August 2013 Chemo Sisters

Thank you for all the welcomes! I go for my blood draw and dr appt tomorrow before round 2 on Wednesday. I am wondering about anti-nausea meds. I have the steroids and I did take some right before chemo, but my dr did not give me any to take home. I just do the Neupagen shots for 7 days after each cyle. I did not have any severe SE after round 1, but I did do home remedies when my tummy felt queasy.

Shaved head going OK so far. Funny thing is feeling a little like "pony tail head" almost all the time. I went to a baseball game yesterday, wore a floppy hat, and it was just like any other game. Still looking for a wig which I will probably just wear to go out to nice events and when I go back to work.

I see some teachers on here and am wondering how you do it. I am taking the first semester off. Between sick days, differential pay, and disability I should be getting the same amount of money. I was very resistant at first (I hate taking sick days) but after talking it over with doctor and principals, I see how it is actually better to take off so that students have a steady teacher throughout. It is very strange for me to not get prepared for the upcoming school year! 

I ladies, I am now an August Chemo sister too. I start my first tx on Wed, 8/21. I will be doing the AC-T tx for Stage 3 Breast Cancer. I'm pretty scared, Im 39 years old and have three boys 10, 8, & 5. I'm trying to be really strong for them, but it's hard. I unfortunately know too many people who have gone thru this already and they are trying to keep me positive and give me tips on eating, exercising, hair loss, etc..., I will keep you posted on how I do, hope it's okay since we are leaving the next day to go camping God Bless all of you!

Gashgold,  You are and will continue to be, a great inspiration for those kids.  God takes what satan meant for evil and changes it to good so we can glorify Him.  Im not sure if everywhere is the same but here I applied for medical leave and after Im off for one week (we can use sick pay or vacation pay that week) then short tern disability kicks in  I think its 60% of your pay.  I live in Michigan USA.

My experience first chemo treatment on 8/16: 8:00 a.m. met with the MO to review my staging studies, no metastasis...yay. After the MO nurse accessed my port it was off to the infusion area. 9:00am - 10:20am fluids, then around 10:30am or so took Emend and Decadron, about 10:45am the nurse gave my Adriamycin push via syringe only took 15 mins, then Cytoxal via IV drip took 30 mins. Seemed strange it only took 45 mins to administer chemo meds..but oh well.

I got home around 1:00 p.m. felt fine until 3:00 p.m. started feeling nausea, took a nap for a few hours then around 6:00 p.m. the nausea was extreme so I call the doc and of course got the answering service. The on call doc called back at 6:38pm asked what chemo drugs and anti-nausea meds I received, said she would check my chart and call me back. Well after 5 more calls to the answering service I never heard back from the on call doc...I was very frustrated at this point. I called the ER and explained the situation they told me to come in. On the way my MO called the house and my sister told her I was on the way to the ER, turned out the answering service was annoyed that the on call doc never returned my call and called my MO at home. MO called in a prescript for Zofran and notified the ER that I was on my way. Make a long story short, they took me right away gave my Zofran that didn't work so they gave me Reglan which did help, they also did a CT scan of the brain which was negative. This was all on day one and not what I expected at all. The nausea is now minimal I'm taking the Compazine every 6 hours as needed.

I haven't noticed any pain yet from the Neulasta shot on Saturday. Taking Claritin.

Hope everyone else is holding up ok.

Peace, I told my sister that her words of encouragement were posted on this site and that they were helpful.  We have to keep one another lifted up.

Carol, it's unfortunate that someone helped themselves to your stuff; sometimes people are just horrible!!!  Does your car have navigation?  and is your home address listed under "Go Home"?  Not to scare you, but my car was stolen then 6 months later my home was broken into.  The police informed me that when someone steals your car with your home address in the navigation system, usually the thieves break into your home.  If this is the case, an alarm system is needed.   I know the same people who stole my car broke into my home because they left behind a notebook that I'm 100% sure was in my car . . . it was their calling card.  Take a breath . . .

To help with fingers + toes during the Taxotere infusion, instead of using the hard, frozen ice packs from the center, for my hands I'm going to bring a medium-size plastic bowl and fill it with ice water.

For those who don't like or drink a lot of water, try 100% coconut water . . . it's great for hydration.

I hope today was a good one for everyone.  Now, I'm going to walk 2 miles . . .

Sharon what did you find out?

Shalimar630, thinking good thoughts for your 1st treatment tomorrow, like everything else on this walk, the fear is worse than the reality. You can do it and I too drank about 3-4 liters of water plus Gatorade and an occasional 7up for several days and I think it helped.🌟

Peace777, good luck on your 2nd treatment tomorrow, I hope all goes well and yea 1/2 way through🌟🌟

Darn, it would seem I am coming down with a bug, a cold.  I thought it was just allergies till a couple of hours ago when my ears and throat got involved.  I'm not overly worried but I don't want it to muck up things - I'm supposed to go to a very personally important wedding this weekend and then another chemo next Tuesday.  If I get a cold will they postpone the Chemo?  I just don't like the schedule getting mucked up over this.

Aww thank you gavinsgrandma!! My Dx was IDC but at first they thought is could have been IBC by the way it's progressing so aggressively. Whatever it is, I plan on kicking some butt, I have no other choice for those three boys of mine! Thanks so much for the prayers. I'll keep you posted

Tonya

beeve,  we'll touch and agree that you will be fine and nothing will prevent from you attending the wedding or anything else.  I have allergies, too.  I felt nasal congestion and popping ears; I took something and felt fine.

I do all sorts of creative things but lately I've been making hats or planning hats, either sewn or crocheted.  I never liked knitting...  Now that I know my time is nigh, I'm working like crazy on a crocheted hat from some really soft yarn I just got, but there are already many possabilities lined up.

Hi ladies,



Well today was my first I fusion, I'm doing okay, i woke up with a slight headache, before treatment, as I was taking the cytoxin, it really got bad. i took a couple excedren , and was told not to take anything with aspirin, and that headache is a side effect, so it's pretty intense. I did have to take an anti nausea pill. My ox told me brush teeth with soft tooth brush and the to mix 1 teaspoon salt, one teaspoon baking soda, 8 oz water, rince 3 times a day for mouth sores. I did take a nap, wish the headache would go away. I understand the anxiety, I have a port, the worst part for me, was seriously the smell of the saline.

Carol that is terrible, I hope the catch him(or her).

Sharnonnbaker, your not to old, I was at a breast cancer meeting, one of the ladies told us the dr said she was to old to undergo this treatment, she said NO I. Doing it. She had just completed her. 16week cycle



Hope all are doing well. God Bless

Hi Ladies, if you don't mind I will join the group. I just found out today that I will have chemo, we go to see the MO tomorrow for more info. I got my initial diagnosis in May, had BMX in June with complications that necessitated another emergency surgery. Initially they said I had DCIS and IDC with mets to two nodes. There were two tumors in my right breast, and DCIS in the left. They did the path on one tumor and sent the other for oncotype testing. Thankfully they did that because the tumor they sent for pathology was ER/PR+. The other tumor did not get sent for pathology (the doctor said when they look the same they only send one). The oncotype test showed that the second tumor is triple negative with a score of 57. So now I am facing the same treatments some of you ladies are.......4 rounds of AC and then 12 rounds of Taxol. Will find out tomorrow when I will start, might not be until early September because my daughter is getting married on 9/1 in Charleston, SC so we will be traveling. The MO said she would like to start the treatment in the next week or so, but we will talk tomorrow. I am scheduled to go for a MUGA scan on Thursday to check my heart function. I haven't told my daughter yet about the new developments; I won't do that until after they get back from their honeymoon. She still thinks everything is just fine....

So I'm glad to "meet" all of you, and look forward to getting to know you all better. Hugs to all of you from Western Pennsylvania!

Welcome, Rhody & Tonya. Wishing you well.



Rhody, I too have the same chemo infusion treatment plan. I go for my second dose of AC this Thursday.



I attended the Look Good Feel Good class from the American Cancer Society this evening. It was a nice small class of 5 ladies (and this is including me). I found it really nice to meet other women in person with similar experiences. One lady and I exchanged contact info. She is also in her 30s with kids and same treatment regimen. One blade in her 70s started with a double mastectomy and said that it was a breeze. I sure hope that thus is the case for me too. I am dreading the double mastectomy surgery especially since I experienced so much pain with the "simple" port surgery.



This class was the first time I actually had a conversation face to face with another breast cancer patient. The infusion rooms at MDAnderson are quite private and I have someone go with me so there has not been an opportunity to talk to anyone other than the nurses. The class was good though I do wear makeup regularly so the only new makeup trick learned was how to draw on eyebrows. The cosmotologist did make a recommendation to pick up disposable mascara brushes from Sally's beauty supply instead of teising the brush that comes woth the mascara. I enjoyed the demo on tying scarfs and will likely go to YouTube to find additional ideas. I speak in public and don't know that I will be able to do so bald. I hav a wig and plan on practicing the scarf ties. Has anyone found an really good YouTube videos on this topic that you would recommend?



Carol, sorry to hear about the car. That just sucks!



Today was the first day of school for the kids. It is nice to get into a routine again. My husband really stepped it up and took care of dinner, had the kids bathed and all homework completed while I was at the class tonight. Overall, a great day today.

Cutiecool, I asked the MO today if my age was the reason I was told, at first, that I didn't need chemo, and he assured me it wasn't. It was the size of the tumor, but after thinking about it and talking to my other doctor, they all agreed that it was the right thing I have triple negative breast cancer and it's grade 3, very aggressive, and because when my pathology didn't find any nodes in the tissue that was removed under my arm, they realize that there possibly could be cancer cells in the lymph nodes. They don't expect that to be true, but just in case. Oh well. We'll see what happens. He said the chemo would lessen my chance of recurrence by 1/2. It is low now, but since it's aggressive, I am taking anything I can get.