August 2013 Chemo Sisters

(((FMG)))  I bind my prayers to your that you get a restful sleep tonight, I pray you rest in the arms of Jesus like a little lost lamb who found his way back home.  Thank you FMG for all the uplifting, inspirational words you've spoken to us...you are a blessing.

LoveWins thanks for your kind words + generous! Thanks for the pray for a restful night's sleep . . . from you lips to God's ears

SaltyJack, yes we all add to the encourage + support stew in our own unique ways.  That's what helps make this experience easier to endure.  Knowing that we pray, intercede + stand in the gap for one another makes us an extraordinary group of people.

It's like we're on a see-saw . . . when some of us are down there are others who are up.  We each get a chance to uplift + a chance to be uplifted.  That's a good thing.

What I want for myself (complete health + restoration, love, joy, financial freedom, great relationships, wholeness + all the blessings God has for me), I want for each of you, too.

Peace!

oh, lovewins - please don't think I (or anybody else - I'll speak for them, too!) was offended. I just took it that you wanted to give extra-special thanks and kudos to FMGD - but I thought I'd spread it around even more.

We're all a great team! 

We are a big group and it can be really hard to keep up with everyone, especially when we are not feeling well and very fatigued physically, mentally and emotionally. I sort of see it as a big room with a lot of women having a lot of different conversations, one day one person may speak directly to my heart and another person on another day. I do agree with Saltyjack that there are a lot of great women here and we are all going through a very very trying time in our lives and we are all here to be helpful and supportive of each other and to help ourselves as well.



Shary🍂

Sharonanne, you could make a great wig if I let my leg hairs grow, hairy toes too! I thought about making scarves and hats ( can't crochet more than the basics but love knitting ) but in the end I was just too busy with school. I'm having sewing machine withdrawal symptoms though. Hopefully, I'll be back into it soon. I've had a really career driven, academic side to my life, but now find a lot of peace doing the really traditional girly things like sewing, jam making etc). Pity you're not just over the fence..

Hi Shalimar,

My WBCs were way below recommended on Monday but they didn't tell till today then they did another urgent bloods today, and the count had come up but still significantly under. I will have to go again on Friday for another blood test and possible chemo then.

They said I just had to wait for them to go up naturally, but I didn't get to talk to the oncologist, so i dont know if this will keep happening or if i can do anything to stop it. I had a copy of my last four tests which showed they had already gone from well within normal to the lowest end of normal from before I had the breast surgery till just before I had the first chemo. Does surgery knock you back a bit in this regard?



The house always seems empty when you've had family to stay, doesn't it? It takes a while for that rattling around feeling to go back to being normal. It's tough when family lives far away.



I don't know about the peroxide. I was anticipating mouth problems but so far haven't had any. I always use kenalog in orabase paste. Don't know what that is called in the US.

Hope your SEs aren't too bad for the weekend.

gashgold, it would be great to be just over the fence. We could sew some fine looking hats and send them to everyone on this thread...a little jam, too.

I'm subbing in the library today, so don't have much time to talk. It was soooooooo easy getting ready this morning with my wig and my new make up from the Look good feel better class. I'm all set.

Gashgold: I know what you mean about keeping up with everybody on here, there are too many of us now and after infusion I know I can barely read all the posts when I've been away for a few days. I used to take 2 hours and make notes so I wouldn't leave anybody out, its too exhausting right now when my hands are shaky and my eyes are all fuzzy.

Everyone has to know we love everyone on this site and like someone said we might touch certain people on certain days with our words and others on other days..

Everyone seemed to be having some hardships and bad SE's the past few days, I pray everyone will be releived of their aches and pains and WBC will resume themselves so chemo can stay on track and mouthsores get better so chemo can continue. Help everyone emotionally as well, I think as we are getting further into our treatments everyone is doing a little worse emotionallly as well as physically, God give us strength and faith and know that this Too Shall Pass.

Love, Rayna

Hugs to everyone out there. I wish I could personally keep up with all of you, since all of you are special. Wish me luck today. My second A/C treatment is today. If my oncologist office doesn't get it together today, I'm firing them. There's another practice in town. I can always take my business elsewhere.

Hi Rayna...I have found sometimes they work for me and sometimes not.  I have started walking a bit too I tried cutting down to 5 mg but I can only sleep 3 hours at a time at that.  Last night I took two and was up at 5am...I said screw it and took another one to sleep 2 more hours.  I wish you the best...I am suffering with sleep too. 

Wing, good luck today with your infusion and you are right, they work for you and you can always change if you do not feel they are doing a good job for you😛

Gashgold, my WBC was low after my 1st and 2nd infusions so MO put me on antibiotics each time and I have 2 refills for my next 2 A/C and cytoxin treatments. I think we are all just different and even though I get the Neulasta my white and red counts just drop way down. You are right about fighting "IT" sometimes we just need to let our bodies tell us how it will handle all of this, I was supposed to do my treatments every 2 weeks but MO moved it to 3 weeks to let my body have more recovery time in between. And yes it sounds like yor sister and her children need a lot of prayer🙏

Rayna, I think you hit the nail on the head we are further in our treatments and the effects are cumulative so naturally we are getting more worn down, won't it be nice when all this is in our rear view mirrors 😄

Crafting ladies I have decided to take knitting back up, but I keep bouncing between reading a new book, knitting, being on here, F.B and playing candy crush, my life has really changed from the 40 hours or so I put in behind the chair in the Salon for 25 years😛hope every one has a blessed and se free day.



Shary🍂

Lovewins, I do that ever since treatment began, it is worse right after, I can only eat a couple of bites but like you said about every couple hours. I thought it was just me😛

lovewins and wing: The onco told me to go to my doctor and get some pills, we need sleep to be able to cope with the SE's. I am hoping to get some sleeping pills and anxiety meds. You are both the same as me, at first if i would sleep it would only be for and hour max and then even though I was so tired I couldn't fall back asleep. My brain almost felt like it was swelling in hurt in my head so much from being sleep deprived. My onco didn't give me pills because he said with switching cocktails I would only be getting 7 steroids instead of the 16 I was on before but it didn't help, how many steroids do you guys take at treatment time.

Love, Rayna

wing - Good luck today!!!  

Good news - my labs came back today and all counts are good enough to go!  My WBC was very low at the ER Friday (only 800) but she said today they're back up over 6,000.  Yay me!  So chemo #2 is tomorrow.

I had to laugh when I went in for blood work today, the receptionist looked behind me & then said, "You didn't bring your little carts today!"   LOL   I told her we'd be there with our U-haul tomorrow!  With the cold caps, we have two wheeled coolers, plus my "chemo bag", a snack bag for hubby and my electric blanket.  Needless to say I make quite the entrance!

I'm feeling the best today that I've felt since chemo #1 - isn't that always the case?  Just in time to start the downward spiral tomorrow again.  They did give me Emend for this round, so hopefully that helps the nausea.  I was only really bad with that SE for about a day & a half, but it hit me only a few hours after my infusion!  Also, the nurse is supposed to ask my MO about medicine for my headaches in case this next tx triggers another migraine.  I want to be on top of it this time & NOT end up in the ER again!  I snuck one of hubby's Ambien last night and I slept all night until 5am!  It was wonderful!

My mother is flying in on Saturday.  I'm not sure I'm up to that level of care... ha!  I know it's been very hard for her to be away from me, but I have enough people mothering me right now!  Oh well, I know she'll be a help and the kids will be so happy to see her.

Speaking of kids - my daughter's softball team is having sparkly pink breast cancer ribbons put on their uniforms for me.  I was so touched.  They also have had t-shirts made with a lighthouse on it (I love lighthouses, hence my screen name) and it says "Beacon of Hope for Michelle" on it, with a Bible verse on the back.  I was a little put out by the whole t-shirt idea, but they really came out nice.  Hubs is going to wear his to my chemo tomorrow.  Every little bit of support & prayer helps, right?

lighthouse: That is incredibly sweet what your daughters team did for you, I would have cried. Your Mom coming to visit will be nice for you especially if you get sick, the other day I phoned my Mom and said "Mommy I don't feel good" like I used to do when I was young and had the flu. I was very emotional and was actually bawling on the phone with her, she dropped everything and flew to my house and took me out driving around and for a bite to eat, I was feeling so lonely and she was there as if I was 8 years old. I always have to remind myself that although I am older, this is her daughter who has cancer, I know its not easy on her.



I'm so glad your WBC are up, its a shame that when you are finally feeling good you have to go and make yourself sick again, its a cruel joke someone is playing on us. I wish you the best for tomorrow and pray no headache will hit you. Take care.

Love, Rayna