September 2013 Chemo Group

cute poem

Survived the big blizzard on Sat. Winter is officially here. I hate winter. Roads are glare ice. I have to go for my Rad consult tomorrow. Really don't want to be on the roads but I better get used to it. Taste buds still shot. I too have had the twitch & watery eyes but it does not last long. Big hugs to all.

PeacockGirl,

My last chemo is on December 20th too. Not looking forward to feeling terrible over Christmas, but grateful that the signs of the season mean chemo will be done soon too.

I had some zinging pain last week. But it went from the front of my left breast to the side. Felt like it was shooting a small jet of water. I know it wasn't doing that, but that is what it felt like.

I have chemo this Friday. The only symptoms I plan to divulge is the eye twitching. The rest just seems par for the course. And if I complain too much, I'm afraid they will send me for more tests or give me more drugs.

Hi ladies

I'm from Türkiye. I'm 33 years old. I've been following since the beginning of the Forum. I pray for all of you.

my chemo started september 3th with AC. I'm going to take last AC tomorrow and my third AC was very bad. I couldn't get out of bed for a week.

on November 26 I'm going to start taking weekly taxol. I'm so scared. How are the side effects of taxol.

Thank you all for being here and providing such valuable tips and information. I wish everyone a swift and complete recovery.

KJ - I'm with you. Most of my SEs I don't complain about to my MO. I know a lot of it is just "par for the course" like you said, and very common SEs after reading up on it (and talking with you all here). I am already taking so many pills, I don't want to add any more medicines or tests if I can help it!

drpuren - Welcome! I am going for Taxol #2 this week (I'm doing every other week, not weekly), but my side effects from Taxol have been totally different from AC. With AC I had severe nausea & fatigue the first 3-4 days, and then a constant "yuck" feeling and awful taste in my mouth the rest of the time, even when I felt better. I didn't have any nausea with my first taxol.... the worst part was aching from head to toe from days 3-7 and extreme fatigue. I feel so much more tired now than I did on AC.... but overall I think it's better than the yucky feeling with AC!

Thank you lighthouselady, good luck to you.

Unplanned day off sick. Uggh.

kjsimpson..nadir (lowest count time for all cells, red, white and platelets) is usually 7-10 days after chemo I think and when we are most vulnerable to getting sick. I usually notice the Friday or Saturday a whole week after chemo I am super tired and nap a lot when most of the two weeks I hardly sleep...then I upswing again like today I feel pretty good and will usually continue to feel better until the next infusion this Friday. So basically my weekends always kinda suck. Chemo weekend I get neulasta hell and the weekend after I get nadir...

kj - for me first ten days after tx were useless and sucked - mainly due to the Big D - and the next 10 days were good, then the process repeated. That was my pattern, but I found that once I passed the half-way point I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Amazingly, I had almost no problems after tx#6, the last one. I kept waiting, but nothing happened. Then it was a bit of a wait to get some energy back - major improvement at 6 weeks PFC. On the white count the nadir does not happen as dramatically with Neulasta - that is the purpose of having it, but that is not to say that you did not contact a bug of some sort. Sometimes your body will spike a fever in an attempt to fight off something - you feel bleh for a day or so, but never really get sick. That can be a successful fending off of something that could have been worse - hopefully the case for you. I had weekly CBC done throughout chemo and never dropped WBC below normal, so never experienced a true nadir on Neulasta. I actually just looked at my book to check on that - yes, I actually have every CBC in reverse date order - I am a bit OCD about the paperwork generated by my BC diagnosis, lol!

Charger, I'm so sorry about your friend's passing. Hang in there. It's okay to have days like this. We all do don't we? I know I get SO emotional over everything now. I cry thinking about dying, I cry thinking about living. I cry about what I've become and what I'm going through. I cry missing my former self. To everyone, if you haven't had a chance to read this article it puts into words what many of us are feeling. I know I read it between surgery and chemo but I managed to find it again today and it means so much more.... now that I'm in the thick of things. It's worth your time to go read.



The things I wish I were told when I was diagnosed with Cancer

70charger - I agree with KJ. You have to let it out sometimes, and after we try to be strong for so long, it seems like a huge meltdown when everything comes to the surface. {{hugs}} I'm sorry about your friend. And I understand about not being able to attend the funeral. I live in TX and my family is in NY. My youngest cousin got married in Austin a few weeks ago, and my mom flew down for the wedding. I hated not being able to go, but traveling 4 hours to be in a wedding crowd just wasn't a good idea.

I wish I could say I was like specialK and had good WBC counts with Neulasta, but even with the shot my counts drop. Before my first taxol the counts had bounced back almost to normal, but they usually hover below normal. That's why having labs done on chemo day makes me nervous... I'll be so frustrated if we get there & can't go through with my tx!

I don't know if I have the normal chemo sniffles or if I'm coming down with a cold. Hope it's nothing serious so I can have taxol #2 on Thursday. I am so ready to be DONE with chemo that I want no delays.

Unfortunately Neulasta does not work as well for everyone - my WBC stayed up but my hemoglobin did not, I flirted with a transfusion. The joke was that I was going up to the blood bank and picking my own units (that was where I worked) because I wanted an older un-tattooed and un-pierced donor, less likely to engage in risky behavior and lie about it, who has donated multiple gallons with no recalls! I also had some platelet trouble, but it always resolved by tx day. I had weekly CBC, so a couple between tx, but the CBC the day of chemo was always the deciding factor.

70charger - I am so sorry about your friend - I don't know if you can ask for a prophy antibiotic so you can attend the funeral - or if it is something you want to do. I did attend a wedding two days after tx #5 - I had fun at the wedding but was a mess for a few days afterward. I also flew to attend a funeral of a dear friend, who passed from breast and uterine cancer, less than 2 weeks after exchange surgery - I was determined to be there, but my husband looked like a sherpa in the airport because I couldn't carry anything other than my purse. It is important to allow yourself to release your emotion - dealing with all of this is exhausting, frustrating and scary.

Sidenote article someone sent me - I'm going to look into it, and thought some of you lovely ladies might find it interesting too - it's about how Turmeric has shown signs of shrinking tumors and increasing the potency of chemo..

http://www.naturalnews.com/042626_turmeric_cancer_chemotherapy.html

JellyK..nice to see you!

peacockgirl - I'm with you, I'm NOT doing that! LOL