August 2013 Chemo Sisters

Well, I had my first (of four) AC treatments today and it went very smoothly and uneventfully. I'm not sure what all they gave me - at least a high dose of steroid (I'm prepared for a long, wakeful night), a light sedative, a short and a long lasting anti-nausea med, as well as a prescription for ondansetron pills - told me to take one tonight and one in the morning then see how it goes.

It's now 4 hours after we finished and I don't feel anything. We ate dinner and I'm getting ready to walk the dogs. When is the other shoe going to drop? When do your SE start after chemo?  Thanks for any info!

Can't resist sharing another verse:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  II Cor. 1:3-4.

  Isn't that just perfect for our group?

love y'all!

SaltyJack, as my wise sister told me, feel good as long as I feel good.  She told me to stop acting like a sitting duck expecting SEs to hit me and just enjoy feeling great for as long as it lasts. 

lighthousel…, please don't feel defeated. Do what you need to do to BE better knowing that you will feel better soon.

Let's bind SEs, infection + fever in the name of Jesus.  I appropriate + apply the Blood of Jesus to my body, to my blood cells, platelates, marrow, mind + emotions.  The Redeeming Blood of Jesus cleanses, heals, saves, restores, rejevunates, makes healthy, whole + complete.  He was wounded for my transgressions and bruised for my iniquities, the chastisement of His peace is upon me + by His stripes I AM healed.  Amen.  This is for all of you too, if you want it!

For those Believers who have anointing oil (plain olive oil will do), anoint your head + any place that you feel pain in your body.  Feel free to take Communion.  Believing that the body of Christ was broken + His Blood was shed for you.

Claim your healing today without horrible side effects!

BE well.

Congratulations 38tooyoung and SaltyJack for getting through your first chemo. Praying that the next few hours bring undisturbed sleep and no SEs. Thinking of you Lighthouse! I love the name of your town. I showed the movie 'The Help' to my students this year and some of the girls just loved the names in it...so now I know where Abilene comes from. What about May Mobely?

Lisa, it's still in the works, I started with my hx of breast cancer and try to add to it as I go, kind of slow process since I'm doing it from notes I wrote since Oct 2011. I'll do my best to update it soon!

Well I have surly missed out on some very interesting conversation over the last week. I only made it to page 29 tonight and hope to catch up through the rest of the discussion throughout this long weekend.



BellaMomma, I will be at MDAnderson in Orlando on 9/5 and 9/6. There is also a MDAnderson in TX. Will you be in Orlando?



Raynaj & Cougarlicious, I am scheduled for a double mastectomy following chemo prior to radiation. I will also have expanders placed during the same surgery. My surgeon felt that my best possible outcome for recovery and non-reoccurrence was the double mastectomy without nipple sparing. I will also have lymph node involvement so they will be removed from the right side during the same surgery. Part of the recommendation from the surgeon is related to my young age of 33 and likelihood of reoccurrence should I not decide to go with a mastectomy. Best of luck to you in making this decision.



Oh yeah, my plastic surgeon told me that once the implants are placed that the FDA requires regular MRIs. This is another precaution to ensure that cancers are detected early.



I really had a tough week. I can definitely relate to the GAS discussion posts. This week has been horrible. I could clear any room. Did I say this is awful! I finally had my husband pick up some gas pills to help with the pressure and discomfort Wednesday evening.



My husband was out of commission Monday and Tuesday with vertigo. When he is not well he sleeps so I was on my own for two days. Mad props to the single parents tackling this illness. Tuesday is really what did me in. My second AC infusion was the previous Thursday. Days 3-4 following chemo have been the worse for me. Well, Tuesday I had a customer event to attend that required me to drive a little over three hours there and then three hours back. I was already a bit lethargic from Monday. The ride down was not too bad but then there was a guy coughing in the general vicinity that I was working. Ack, get away fom me! This is what I was screaming in my head. So time to pack up and head home and torrential down pour of rain. No umbrella. I was so over it that I walked in the torrential rain to my rental car and drove home soaked. By the time I got home my port was in pain from the seatbelt pressure.



So as I fumigate my family fom the house I began to feel slightly better until Thursday. I wake up with a sore throat. Now congestion starts. By Thursday night I was coughing up green mucous and blowing it out too. Thankfully no fever. My 6 year old starts complaining that her ear hurts and throat. So today I get a call from the school telling me that the little one has a mild fever. Took her to the minute clinic to have them say she has a virus. Ick, stay away! No luck there, I have to take care of her. So managing the fever and will take her to the pediatrician tomorrow morning when I go to see my PCP. My oncologist had me start a Z-PAC today and wanted me to see the PCP to check my lungs. I guess there are some nasty viruses out already. The CVS ARNP said that they are already seeing flu. I have masks but really did not want to wear them all of the time. My counts have been good so I figured I was good to go with hand washing and general precaution.



Now I am worried about more travel. Open enrollment season is really busy for my work schedule. I know that I will have to wear the masks when I fly. Boy am I so looking forward to those looks, NOT!



So hair be gone. This is was started my distress this week. The hair fell out. By Wednesday I decided to have my husband shave it off. He was so exited to shave until it came to actually doing it. He realized then that this was real. So the sword in my stomach was having my 6 year old cry uncontrollably, refuse to look at me for over an hour following my hair cut. She was terrorized and said that I was scary. It was awful. So tonight I finally go her to accept the baldness. All week I had to keep my head covered and when I picked her up from school she asked that I wear my wig. Now that was weird because I had already seen many of the parents outside school with my short hair and now I had a long wig. Tonight I was convinced get her to let me take off the bandana and color my head with non-toxic washable markers. She really got into it and we posted the pictures to Facebook. Here is to hoping she continues to accept the bald head because the little stubble left gives me chills when I wear anything covering it.



Well I have filled the page. I guess this is what happens when we check out for a week. Thanks for letting me rant and move forward. I am confident that I will kick this bug and start feeling "normal" this coming week.



Good night and good morning; depending on what side of the world you are on.

Gildedcage...I too had thrush. No fun! Here I am feeling lousy being pumped full of medicine, can't sit still from steroid and then to get that. Of course it happened on a Saturday when no one is around at our small town clinic so I had to call the ER. More medicine too. I just finished my last treatment and still have it a little so I have to get another round of meds.

Lindsey my heart goes out to you and your daughter! I too am fearing the hair loss. I am about there when it will happen so I am thinking of going in this weekend to get my head shaved. My 13 yr old and 16 yr old just stated to day that I better not show them my head. My 16 yr old is fearful of his friends seeing me with my wig or scarf. I am bothered by that, but trying to look back at when I was a teen...you don't want your friends to see your mom, let alone one who might look different. He'll survive and come around I know...but it's still hard to watch how the kids who are so honest deal with this. I love what you have done to make it a fun thing for your daughter...I can tell you must be a creative fun mom.

Lindsey: Oh my! I am so sorry to hear about all that sickness and your daughter being so upset. Glad she was able to enjoy the markers and you were too. Take care, try and go easy and maybe, just maybe, take sick leave or FMLA leave right after your infusion times. Be cautious and treat yourself as well as you can. Hugs!



Julie, thank you and update whenever! Just wanted to make sure I had the right site, so glad I do.



Mankatostate, my 12-year-old daughter first said to me when I told her I had cancer 'Mom, I don't want you to be bald.' I told her I didn't either and I understood it was hard for her. However I reminded her that as bad as she felt it was actually happening to me -- not her. I got my wig before I lost my hair and wore it as soon as I got it w/out telling her. She didn't know it was a wig til I said so! Then she said it wasn't as bad as she thought.



The next month she tried to make me promise not to tell anyone with kids when I lost my hair. I told her that would not work. When I started to lose my hair, I told her then pulled some out so she knew. She was very sympathetic. By the time I got it shaved she knew and I came back with the wig on then showed her a photo of me that my friend took on my iPhone of my shaved head.



She commented it actually wasn't so bad so then I asked if she wanted to see it. After her consent, I pulled off the wig and told her to touch my head...she liked that it was fuzzy and soft! Then she told me: 'Mom, you rock the bald! You look like a punk rocker!'



That night I went to a back to school function and no one realized I had on a wig. I saw many people I knew that did not know my diagnosis and complimented me on my hair.



I've been bald for 11 days. My daughter who used to be phobic about it now is very casual about seeing me bald around the house, and told me 'No matter what you look like, you're still you.' I also asked her best friend (who we've both known since she waa a baby) if she wanted to see me bald. When she said yes, I told her to touch my head which she also liked.



I tell you all this because I think kids just blurt out what they're thinking and take time getting accustomed to change. They are also worried and scared you have a serious illness and this could be a way to express it. But I believe given time and space to adjust, they can be more flexible eventually. Good luck with them and I hope it goes easier with time.

Gashgold: It's too bad you didn't talk to your doctor before the weekend if it gets any worse you should go to the ER. Also what is panadol, is it a pain killer, if so use it, I don't know why they are telling you not to use Ibuprophon. but you don't need to be in pain especially if you have a pain killer there. I can't believe the few nausea meds they give you, If you are nauseous I would ask for more of them, you shouldn't have to ration them.

Love, Rayna

Oh everyone who is wondering about Carol, I PM'd her and she is fine she just said she got behind on emails and other things she had to attend to.

Rayna

Togetherness: Sorry you are having such a rough time. I get migraines and bad ones I hope the pain meds will work for you but they make mine worse, I take a rapid dissolving tablet called Maxalt and it is the only thing that works for my migraines, see if they have that and can give you some if the pain meds don't work. I also got a very bad throat that only cold icy drinks soothed. Hope your doing better.

Love, Rayna

Togetherness, I'm so sorry about your bad experiences. Taking those fluids definitely will make you feel better. Sometimes we get headaches because of dehydration. My throat is sore, too. I gargle salt and soda water. Put 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp soda in 8 ounces of warm water. Gargle often. This is healing. There is a throat spray that numbs your throat. I forgot the name. Ask the pharmacist. It doesn't taste very good, but it works. You might need to get an antibiotic. I was told to call in for a prescription if I saw white patches or if it got worse. Hope you feel better soon.

Beeve: Glad to hear you're being the squeaky wheel. Ativan by the way is also good for nausea do you have that? Stay ahead of the SEs!



Also glad you mentioned getting up at all hours. Am on my 2nd round too and just started sleeping less and less which did NOT happen the first time. Went to bed at 1 and up at 6. Ugh. Oh well this too shall pass.



Mankatostate: I completely get what you're saying about kids this age being in their own world. One of the first things my girl said to me after my diagnosis is; "You know how this will affect my social life, right?" LOL. Crazy chick. I try to ignore her silly comments and reassure her.



Parenting when you have cancer is a weird new ballgame, am I right ladies?

Lindsey, sounds like you were da bomb! Sorry! It sounds like you have had a horiffic week. Poor baby. I feel for you. I cannot imagine taking care of a child during my SEs and even just with the lethargy. Driving 3 hours?!!!! Wow. I'm impressed. It's a great thing that you'll get regular scans. That's a great fringe benefit to having implants. God bless you, Lindsay. I'll be praying for you today along with the others on this thread. I'm doing so much better than that that I am thankful just for having read your post.

SaltyJack, I love your Bible verse. I agree that it's no surprise to God and that he will use every one of us for his purpose, to lead others to Him. THat's what it's all about, but life gets in his way so much. He has a major job just getting our attention.

Good morning ladies! I hope those of us in the States have some fun plans for the holiday weekend. I celebrated by having my best friend cut my shoulder length hair into a really cute short cut. I just couldn't stand seeing the long hairs all over the house. I still have a lot left but I will buzz it off as soon as it gets noticeably thin.

My next infusion is Thursday, so I will be making 2 different kinds of soup to get the freezer stocked up for next weekend. My hubby is wonderfully supportive but he can't cook worth a darn...



Just a comment, I can't help but notice how many of us are only sleeping for 5 hrs a night. I asked my onco and he wouldn't recommended anything stronger than benadryl. He won't give anything habit-forming, and said that I would build too much tolerance to any of the non-habit forming rx's. So last night I took a xanax (my breast surgeon had given me an rx when I got diagnosed) and I slept for 9 hrs! I feel great today! But I don't want to be relying on that, has anyone tried benadryl or anything else, like the natural products I've seen at the pharmacy?