October 2013 Chemotherapy

Kiko: Hope you did well on your first treatment. I'm a month behind you. God bless you

Well chemo #2 is done! Wbc count was 9.4 today. I get Aloxi, Emend, and Dexamethasone pre-meds for nausea. Then Zofran and Compazine at home. I will have Neupogen injections for the next 4 days. Hopefully it will keep my count up, my MO wants to keep me on 2 week schedule.

Hope the nausea gets better for you ladies, that is the worst. My MO said if you are prone to motion sickness or had morning sickness during pregnancy you will usually have nausea symptoms with chemo. So sorry for you guys, it will get better.

Have a great weekend everyone, I am going to try to have a good one!!

TCH Chemo number 1 all done. Enden up starting at 11am finished by 3pm due to a glitch in system and orders not visible.

I receceived Dexo?? steriod then kytril as premeds, then came taxotere 1 hour, the carboplatin 30 min, then herceptin loadind dose 90 min. I actually dosed off at some point.  I drank lots of water and had a few little snacks, almonds and bananachips. I had the worst craving for salt.

I  saw MO yesterday and she told me to stay on xanax since it works so well for me and she told me to take it with compazine at the first sign of any stomache upset and if it didn't work in 30 min to take Zofran and know that I would probably dose off. She gave me pain med for when I got Neulasta. Told me Claritin day before, then 1 hr before N with 800mg advil and if the Advil didn't take care of pain to take Vicodin and again sleep through it if I could. She said if I reacted the worse was first three days for most persons. 

I ate, I feel ok with stomache, have a slight achy head, so I am in bed with computer resting going to take it as easy as I can til tomorrow.

I hope the othe Friday ladies are doing well and everyone side effects are calm.

I think it is nappy time, before I forget I got a prescription for and used EMLA (lidocaine cream on the port) I barely felt needle. I did feel when the RN had to hold it for needle,it is still pretty sore.

Can chemobrain start this soon ? or am I just mental...hard to think of certain words

Vivian

lisa-you're my chemo twin through this. I hope we both have minimal side effects. I pray for all of us every night.

5 down, 11 to go! Whew! Buzzing from steroids of course, but luckily my MO says I can stop my 4am pre meds! Whoop for less steroids. The tx go pretty fast now, about 2 hours total in and out time. I'm exhausted when I leave, but once the Benadryl wears off, I am so wired. Luckily no nausea or vomiting. it's the good ol' constipation that has it's hooks in me. Great tip from my onc nurse - dried apricots have more fiber than prunes! My only advice is to go slow with home remedies. I did them all - more water, miralax, prunes, apricots, stool softener, etc etc....well, needless to say, it wasn't a pretty outcome :P I feel like my body is having a really hard time finding balance. Not a happy place for a Yoga instructor

I need to ask - has anyone suffered from or is suffering from major, constant, intense headaches? I am on weekly Taxol with no AC yet. MO wrote me a script for a migraine med today but he seems worried since it's not a common SE. I just want them gone All day, every day at some level....starting to get to me Any advice would be so appreciated

I had my first infusion yesterday and am dealing with some intense nausea and headaches and heartburn.  I'm taking my nausea meds and they are helping some but I'm worried about how every one says days 3-5 are the worst .  Does that mean the nausea I have now is only going to get worse over the next few days??

Ladies, I am managing my nausea eating mini pretzels every two hours, and ginger snaps, bars, rice, bananas, soups... Drinking lots of fluid. I am on a different Chemo treatment that you are but eating often smaller portions or the pretzels are helping immensely.
I still have the cramps, gases, no diarrhea yet. On the first one I had it for a whole week. The cramps are bad, it is gas, and it is because of the Cytoxan.
kcat: As for nausea, everybody is different. My discomfort improved after four days on chemo #1. Just got very tired after.
I hope you have a relaxing Saturday.
Remember to drink lots of water, flush that chemo out!
HeadEast

Kcat,

I have a home remedy for nausea and vomiting.gia chiven to me as a child , used on my babies and continue.

Take a big red apple clean the skin very well. Peel the apple .  Add the skin to 1 cup of water bring to a boil andthen reduce to a simmer, let it simmer 10-15 min. The water will turn pinkish.  Remove skin and pour in a cup to cool. add a pinch of salt and sugar ( you can omit this is you are avoiding salt or sugar). Once cool drink one tablespoon. wait 15 min and drink another and continue. It helps stop vomiting and nausea.  It is something in the apple peel. But one of my family's self treat recipe's among others for years.

I am sorry for your SE's My onc told me thay would either start within 6 hours or can be delayed for a few days. Usually delayed is with 2 or 3 tx. Please rest  and try to eat what you can and drink what fluids you can. I found that oyster crackers, the ones you add to soup/chile (not really made from oysters) helped me in past. They are very small and I would suck and let melt in my mouth and they would stay down.

Feel better soon,

Vivian

Vivian, thanks for the apple peel recipe, I will try that. My mother in law is also bringing me the ingredients for a fresh ginger tea to try.

Lisa - my IV preMeds are Aloxi and Decacron. I have Adivan, Zophran and Compazine at home to take. 1st round I took an Adivan before infusion, took a Zophran (just in case) the following night, and took another Adivan on day 4 (mostly for anxiety). Didn't have a moment of nausea in round 1. I did have a faint, but persistent, headache throughout the first two days, but took Motrin and that kept it at bay (and also helped the abdominal cramps, which were my most troublesome SE).

Just got back from the salon and had what little hair left buzzed down to 1/4 inch all over. My scalp was sore, and this seems to have helped, but I look like a moth eaten old stuffed animal! Put on my wig and had the stylist trim the bangs a bit -- I wore it home and the DH likes it, but it looks "wiggy" to me. So far, feeling more comfortable in hats.

TeamKim, Moth eaten stuffed animal. That will be me in another week. lol. That was funny. My daughter actual laughed at me when I put on this funny wig. I guess we have to try and keep our humour..

Gia..

Teamkim,

How did it go with the buzz cut? I am going today as well. I keep crying though trying to get my emotions under control. It makes me sad ;( On the upside I feel pretty decent today. Not great but decent. SE's are tolerable and trying to get my constipation in check. Thanks for all your stories on this site and for making me feel "normal." Big Hugs to ALL!!!

TeamKim, Nicole, Headeast,

It seems many women were sent home with more meds than I had.  I put in call to MO on call and he said "I think we can definitely do better by you".  He called in Zofran and Lorazipam.  Told me to start w/Lorazipam because he believes a decent rest would help me out immensely.  The Zofran is the last defense - it does have a high headache incident rate and my MO wants to stay clear of it due to my long standing headache issues but MO on call said it should not be discounted. 

I have eaten, just very, very little.  I had major water retention yesterday from steroids and so I had to stay away from pretzels and crackers because of the sodium.  I basically have been eating muffins my husband ran and picked up from Perkins while I was at chemo; not the healthiest but it is something in the stomach that has not come back up. Broth - chicken broth is the only thing I like and there is the sodium again!

So we will see how the Lorazipam goes.  My best bet is sleep --  if I sleep, I don't feel pain and should not get sick to my stomach.  If I wake up and don't feel nauseated, then I'll eat another muffin and perhaps some chicken broth.  The swelling in my legs and feet seems to have gone down some and since just about everything I have in the house has sodium (see, I never saw water retention as being a SE I'd be dealing with) so I'm going to use what I've got.  I am pushing the fluids still so that is not an issue.

Hopefully in short order I'll be in lala land.  The true test will be when I wake up......I'll let you all know how I'm feeling at that time.

Thanks, ladies, for the encouragement to eat and drink and what you used to help out with nausea.  I just wish they had sent me home w/the different meds so I could start a different type if  the first one didn't work.  I'll have a talk w/MO about that at my next chemo in 2 weeks.

Nighty-night!

On the anti-nausea meds - Zofran is Odansetron, and can cause a wicked headache. You can get Emend in pill form but they don't like to prescribe it because it is expensive. You can also get Kytril. Ativan does indeed have an anti-nausea property. Metoclopramide is Reglan, and ginger candies can help is you are feeling nausea - Gin-Gins are thought to be the best, link below. If you have intractable nausea I recommend asking to have additional fluids by IV, the day after chemo (especially if you are going in for a Neulasta injection) and possibly the day after that again. Dehydration will cause nausea, as will an empty stomach. Also, for those who get no relief from any of the above, they have a time-release patch called Sancuso.

For those on a taxane (Taxol or Taxotere) and Neulasta, do not discount how much bone pain may be caused by the taxane drug. It is a definite SE of this class of drugs and can be exacerbated by also receiving Neulasta. The Claritin definitely has to be taken prior to the injection to work - at least an hour before. The first Neulasta injection is usually the worst - subsequent ones are not usually as severe because the marrow has already been expanded by the first injection. It is akin to wearing a new pair of shoes - hurts the first time when you break them in, wearing them again is not usually as painful.

naiviv - you had asked on an earlier page about differing Her2 results on different samples - breast tumors are not necessarily homogenous - you can have different Her2 results and different hormonal receptors from differing area of the same mass. Also, your receptors can change after chemo. Generally they will treat whatever you are positive for, so if you registered a Her2+ result on a tumor sample you will get Herceptin, if you registered a ER+ result you will get hormonal therapy.

http://gingerpeople.com/gin-gin-candies.html

2nd day after chemo and so far so good. Having some faint nausea and headaches but nothing requiring medication. I'm drinking so much my urine is clear. After this last 16 ounces I'm done for today. Trying to double the suggested 64 oz. Had the neulasta shot yesterday at the hospital and I'm not sure I can do this at home as planned. I was a bit taken aback my the needle size and it really stung when it was injected. I'm going to try to do it myself at the hospital the next time I get the shot -- hopefully I can do this at home and save myself a trip. I'm crossing my fingers that things don't get much worse. The SE's are very manageable right now but a day or two down the road and who knows? I'm wondering if chemo doesn't work as well on people with mild SE's. I am happy things are ok so far but I really want this to work!!!

So sorry for the ladies having problems, hopefully things will get under control soon and stay that way.