Informal Poll - Where were you treated and what was your chemo?

Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for surgery and reconstruction, Chemo in Bethesda MD w/Dr. Carolyn Hendricks.  4 dose dense tx of A/C followed by 4 dose dense of Taxol.  6 weeks of rads 5 days a week at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney MD.  Currently on Tamoxifen.

Sharon

I was treated at RMCC in Denver, CO

Bilat with TE (and eventually silicone implants), TAC chemo x 6, Rads (25), AI's and ooph.....

dx in june, bilat in july chemo began in sept FEC+T was treated in augusta, georgia

Private breast surgeon/oncologist/radiologist all fellowships at Roswell Park. Lumpectomy (had I known it was so big I'd had mastectomy) 4dd ac followed by 12 taxol 33 rads arimidex for 2 weeks stopped because it made my heart race. Now on femara. Night sweats hard but doable. So far so good

Acx4, Tx12, radiation, then bmx

anyone else?

Bump...this is a wonderful thread. Thanks Technoshift!

I am mainly being treated at UW Madison Hospital and Clinics - having rads at a satellite clinic.

I had neoadjuvant chemo - please see my signature line.  I'm working with my mo to have ovaries removed after rads and additional chemo.

Also, I see a naturalpathic physican and taking several supplements.

Great Thread!

John Theurer Cancer Center @ the Hackensack University Medical Center

Left Mastectomy, Lymph node dissenction, immediate reconstruction free tram

Adrimycin, Cytoxin, Taxol

Rads, AI"s

Warrior, we have almost the exact same DX. I had 4XFEC first, every 3 weeks, then BMX, then 4Xtaxotere, every 3 weeks as well, then rads, then hyster and femara. The order is a little different, but the treatment is very similar. What made you 'B'? In my case it was skin involvement.

Soteria, as far as I remember, 3B is a tumor of a certain size, 4-9 nodes AND either skin or chest wall involvement. 3C has to do with more nodes than 9, as far as I know.

Momine - I really don't know if I am a b or c since I haven't had surgery. 4 nodes show up on the scans and one is pretty large so that might make me a c. I am really guessing at that. My tumor is very large also, but some of it is LCIS and they don't know what is what. May never know if chemo works well since it will all be before surgery.

How was the FEC? I haven't seen too many here that have had that and I wanted to talk to someone who has actually done it.

Warrior, with 4 nodes, it is very unlikely that you will end up a C or even a B (sounds like bra sizes, doesn't it ).

The docs were all awed by the FEC and told me that the taxotere would be a walk in the park in comparison etc., so I was pretty scared and then it just wasn't that bad.

They put me on a strict schedule of anti-puke meds. I got emend during the infusion and for 2 days after, along with 2-3 other meds in some sort of precise rotation. It worked like a charm. I never had nausea or puking. I did get light head aches and constipation from the meds. You will most likely also get thrush. However, I quickly discovered that taking a triple-dose of probiotics daily helped hugely both with the thrush and the intestinal issues (since both are caused by the chemo stripping your system of all normal bacteria). For the thrush, a simple mouth wash of baking soda in warm water helped better than the monistat gel. Mine never got worse than a slightly woolly mouth for a few days.

They also gave me neulasta after each chemo. I never had any problem with that, except some mild aching in the hips for a day or two and only some of the times.

I used to crash the day of the FEC and for 2-3 days after. I didn't feel ill really, just massively tired. The effect is cumulative, so you will be increasingly tired with each treatment. The best antidote for the tiredness, aches and general blah is to take a shower, put on a pretty scarf or shoes that make you happy or whatever and take a walk outside. Some light, fresh air, exercise and other humans can be very helpful. I don't usually get up early, but during chemo, I used to get up at 7 and walk my dogs in the park for 45 minutes. During those walks, I would focus on the light, the trees, the dogs etc and really enjoy myself. It fortified me for the rest of the day.

Your hair will fall out after the second chemo usually, if it hasn't already dropped during taxol. I had the wig girl buzz mine right at the start. I am glad I did that, because not only was it less traumatic that way (I had a LOT of hair), but it itches like crazy when it falls out, so with the buzz cut, I could just stick my head over the tub and rub it with a dry wash cloth to get the stubble out. Oh, and I wore the crazy-expensive wig exactly once.

Hi Paula,

I got this off the BCO.org info under diagnosis.

Hi Momine, I was also given Emend in my chemo infusion and in pills to take the following 2 days. Never go t Nausea.

Warrior - The advice from the above sisters is right on.  I am stage 3a and had at least one larger node - one can have microinvasion and macroinvasion within the nodes and still be stage 3a.  I was terrified of chemo but everything worked out fine - taking anti nausea meds, probiotics and L-glutamine helped me much.