September 2013 Chemo Group

Michelle - {{{hugs}}} sorry about the disappointing hair loss.

Hi All,

Day 1 of first chemo treatment. So glad it has finally come and gone. Managed it all right. Going to take my meds and go to bed. Tomorrow-what will you bring? Thank you to everyone for all the detailed information. I could not have been more prepared!

Love and prayers,

Viji

Michelle: So sorry to hear about the hair loss. Perhaps even the fact you tried means you will lose less than those of us who didn't and it can grow back that much faster! Hugs to you.



For Ekaterina and Viji and all just starting: All the best to you. A lot of us have managed pretty well with relatively slight side effects, so I am hopeful for you all. Your MOs are there to help you with side effects, use them. And remember, hydrate!



Mankatostate: Thank you. I saw the MO yesterday and my counts are good. It appears I have the beginning of an ear infection, and my stomach issues were likely either chemo related or a gastro virus. So after I get my antibiotic today I'll be taking it easy for a while and avoiding crowds.



By the way, who's decided to be online shopping this year for Christmas? I decided I may as well start now and get it done before Thanksgiving.



The idea of being immunocompromised in a crowd of flu-laden holiday shoppers seems somewhat unappealing.

thanks a great idea Lisa...I usually do that every year and get free shipping when I mail it to my folks and have a day there wrapping!  This year I am also making some gifts as I think the creativity will be healing.  I am not the most crafty person.  .

Good thoughts for you today, Ekaterina!!  Keep the faith!!

You can do this!

lighthouselady - I lost my hair later than normal, day 24 - my onc was amazed as I made it though 2tx with a completely full head of hair, but enough of it came out on day 24 - about 80%, that I had my husband buzz it to about 1/2 inch.  After that point I did not lose any more hair - what was left at that point stayed and I never went shiny bald.  Is it possible that whatever amount of hair you have lost up to now is all that you will lose?  I am wondering if you have to give up yet.

debdylan - hard to say - chemo slows healing, but as I said I have seen others who had ports installed and chemo started same day.  I had three skin cancers removed days prior to starting chemo and they did still proceed.  Scarring is worse on those three than any others I have had removed, but they did heal.  It is a judgement call - also, the 8 week window is optimal, but I believe that outside time period is actually 12 weeks in trials.

Is there anyone who is having chemo first and might know how long after that they would do surgery?  If I stay on schedule and go with dose dense taxol every 2 weeks, my last chemo would be the first part of December.  Am I looking at a Christmas surgery?  Lucky me.  LOL  

As for those who are borderline needing chemo.... it's definitely a judgment call and I would lean toward what my doctor recommended.  However, you want to be comfortable knowing you have done everything you can to rid your body of cancer the first time in hopes of never traveling down this road again!  

lighthouselady - here is another thread dealing with the neoadjuvent chemo/surgery question:

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topic/783552

Michelle - Sorry about your hair!! I am starting chemo today, but I know it will be a hard thing for me even if you try to be prepared.

Taguekids - Why are they saying you wouldn't need chemo? I am stage 1 & they are saying I am to have chemo. I would suggest you get the chemo, I have seen a good friend opt out of the chemo because she had clear nodes & they said they got it all. Well it came back within a few months & it has spread everywhere. She lost her battle like 2 months later.

Debdylan - I had to wait till week 9 after surgery , I start today. My onco. said within 12 weeks, but everything I have read says within 9 weeks. I had a sore area too, it is still healing but is much better then it was. I was suppose to start 2 weeks ago, but I am glad I waited as it had  more time to heal so you don't risk getting infection. Good luck!!!

        Well I'm off girls for my 1st one, here we go!

Ladies,

I don't feel so alone knowing all of you are on this march with me.  I wish none of us had to do this - but this forum is a blessing. 

I realize this is easy to write ...keep in mind even for us grade 3ers that most cancers are slow moving and take a long time to progress.  I was terribly anxious to have my surgery but my docs were not.  We did so many tests and retests and I got a long time to live with a known cancer in my breast.  Needless to say when it was finally removed I felt a lot better.  But not so anxious to start chemo.  I waited 8 weeks (did fertility preservation) and none of my oncs (had 4 opinions) were concerned.  I think the time really depends on your cancer and your onc.  I wholeheartedly agree that the better you can feel going into chemo the better.  Jelly - heal from the cold, and DebDylan - heal as best you can from the surgery.  I believe, the stronger your body is going into the chemo the more effective the chemo will be as your body won't be doing a zillion things at once.  Not to mention that you will feel better faster.  My port surgery was 3 days before my first chemo and it is taking a long time to heal (much longer than my lumpectomy scar in fact).  I honestly needed one week free from doc apts and needles (between fertility preservation surgery and port - one blissful week) so choose my port surgery date.  But it has made getting back to normal a little tougher.  I did go running today (first time since port surgery) and held my boob the whole time as the bouncing was so uncomfortable (not painful).  Kinda funny but felt so good just to be running again I didn't care. 

Taguekids6 and everyone, don't hate me for saying this but I don't think chemo is neccesarily the 'thing' that will keep cancer from coming back.  I am doing it because I had a 1.5cm tumor in my sentinal node, am 34, and my cancer grade 3.  I do believe that chemo will have a benefit for me - otherwise believe me I would not do it.  But when I had my doc run the adjuvant online for me I was shocked to see that adding chemo reduced my reoccurance chances only 30% - granted a big number but it did about as much as Tamoxifan and even doing everything they want me to do I still had a 25-30% reoccurance risk.  Now my onc told me that the data pool that algorithm pulls from is 10-15 years old and doesn't account for many aspects of cancer that we now know but still - if you asked me 6 months ago I would have thought chemo 'cured' you.  Ignorance is bliss  I know for me that I am taking a hard look at myself and am going to work hard to live a healthier life after this is all over with.  This may reduce my reoccurance risk but it will never go away.  And I know that even 'super healthy' women get bc all the time.  So to stop from rambling, I don't think all women will benefit from chemo and what a thing to put your body through if you don't need it.  However, undoubtedly many women do benefit.  I think these new tests and studies they have are showing more and more where that line is and that is a great thing.  Chemo comes with its own risks and while I think all of us who need it take those risks as very outweighed by the benefit.  However, I think if your doc doesn't think you need chemo I would think hard about those risks as well.  It's not just the short term stuff.  I went into this with my eyes open and knowing the risks and accepting them but again with my stats, the benefit outweighed the risk.  And as I had a 1.2% chance of developing bc (my age and lack of family history), even those small risks were magnified in my mind.   Anyway, sorry about the rambling....my thought process.  Any decision you make is yours to make and we all support each others decisions.   But I find the science very helpful (if still with a lot of holes) in making decisions and then a flying leap of faith!

Thank you all for being there / here and I wish everyone starting or going back an easy time.

Mankatostate,

I'm 44 yrs old with NO fam history of ANY type of cancer. My tumor was also 2.5 cm, I guess the only diff would be the grade. Thanks for your reply!

Soccermom,

Guess I should have clarified. Everyone telling me I WON'T need chemo is family and friends. Maybe just to make me feel better? But my hubby even went so far as to tell someone on the phone in front of me that I am cancer free. I asked him why he would say that? I'm still scared to death. He apologized, just was so happy that everything was going so well and that we found out I had def. made the right decision with the bil. mx. They ended up finding a secodary tumor that was DCIS. Way smaller but who knows what would have happened if it had remained. None of the mammos, ultrasounds or the MRI found it. The surgeon even told me before he took me back that even doing the mx on the right was smart. He felt I would be back in a yr or 2 with cancer again due to all the bad cellular changes just over in that breast.

Lighthouse,

Feeling the same way, just want to go in with every gun available blazing! I saddly, also have my BFF from highscool with BC recurrence. This is her third go around and there is no cure for her now. It has metastasised to her liver and bones. She's been doing some really nasty chemo on and off for a year just to keep her alive. Her youngest daughter is 13 in December. My situation is NO WHERE near anything like hers but it plays in the back of my mind constantly. I still have a 2 yr old at home and two grand babies, a third on the way.

Tomorrow can NOT come soon enough. I almost hate that my hubby, mom and sister are coming with me though because if the onc. recommends no chemo I feel like I want to ask for it and not sure I will have the courage having them with me. They love me so much, I KNOW they do, they just don't understand.

Hence, I am here.................so thankful, grateful and needing of all of you ladies who are going through the same thing. I don't want to be here as I'm sure none of you do either but so grateful to all of you at the same time.

Kimberly

Josgirl,

Thank you so much for your thoughts too. Just saw them after I posted my reply. I know chemo is NOT a guarantee. Just want the option to NOT be taken from me if I decide for myself that it IS worth it to me.

Kimberly

taguekids6 - it can take about 3 weeks to get the results, optimally it is ordered right after surgery.  It is an expensive test, so also make sure that your insurance will cover it.  You might ask your onc to show you the recurrence forecast models with chemo, and without, for your individual situation.  Adjuvent online, PREDICT, and cancermath all will show scenarios for different types of treatment, but I believe Adjuvent requires physician sign-on.  Here are links to the other two. I like the pictogram chart rather than the graph, I find it easier to understand. 

http://www.predict.nhs.uk/predict.shtml

http://www.lifemath.net/cancer/breastcancer/therapy/index.php

Taguekids6, Absolutely - the decision is yours and honestly any onc that disagrees isn't worth going to.  It isn't them that have to live with the decision it is you! So I wholeheartedly agree.  I understand about having your family in there with you.  The support is wonderful and I understand not wanting to exlude them but maybe you can get the recommendation by yourself and then invite them in for the treatment plan description.  Just so you have a moment alone to process.  While it was helpful having my fiancee and mom at some of the appointments it was also just as helpful sometimes not to so that I could be the first one to get the information and process it for a moment.  Just a thought.  Sounds like you have a lot going on and it is tough enough.  Wishing your BFF all the best I can my heart goes out to her and her family.