September 2013 Chemo Group

josgirl - try to avoid skin to skin contact during rads - if you are large breasted and the breast touches the skin below it you may have discomfort from the damaged skin from rads. The ladies on Triple Pos and TCH threads who had rads recommended getting a handful of inexpensive white tanks (like from Walmart or Target) and wearing those under the bra after putting on the aloe, or whatever cream you use.

LHL - Here's hoping the meds work!  And woohoo getting it done!

SpecialK - thanks for the advice - would never have thought about that on my own (tank top under bra) but makes sense. 

knightzoo - I was the same way... Felt GREAT the day before chemo.

WOOHOOOOOO for NED. Clean scans must be such a relied!

BabyRuth so happy for you. Whoo hoo.

YAY BabyRuth! Good for you, congrats!!!!! :>)

Art - I love that you love her butt! Too sweet. I don't know the answer about node biopsy first. My guess would be that if the PET scan showed nothing and now you've done chemo, they won't find anything. I think implants are my only option too (I'm also against moving muscle) - and I know I will have radiation, so I guess I deal with the risks (I had + node biopsy and 2 nodes show up on PET). Maybe I should try to gain 10 pounds in the next 2 months so they have enough fat tissue to move?!

Hang in there KBee, I hate not knowing too. One minute, one hour at a time. Tomorrow WILL come, no matter how slowly it seems.

audra - a normal WBC is between 4-10, so, yes, yours is low, but to be expected. A low WBC makes you more susceptible to infection. I had weekly CBC throughout chemo, some oncs do it weekly, others just before the next chemo.

knight,

That's funny. Natalie was like what do u mean there's not enough.

I told her I always thought u were crazy when u said u were fat.

Anyway, I wish you well & happy turkey day

Babyruth, Hooray for the NED!!! You must be on cloud nine right now. I'm really happy for you.

I finished my 12th weekly taxol infusion yesterday, and now have a two week break before I start AC. Other than the increasing fatigue over the last six weeks and the steroid crashes that occurred either on day 2 or 3, things went very smoothly. I feel very fortunate. I'm a little nervous about the AC, but I figure I can get through 4 infusions of anything. It's nice I won't have to make the two hour drive to my infusion center every single week too.

I'm getting neoadjuvant chemo and can feel my tumor shrinking each week. It's great to know the chemo is working....now if the AC will just make it disappear all together. My chances of survival willl shoot up like a rocket if I get a cPR. I'll find out around Valentine's Day when I have my surgery. Any other Triple Negatives on this thread?

Kbeee - I can top that. Today our high was 81 degrees. Tomorrow the high is going to be 33 (at midnight tonight) with sleet & freezing rain possible, and 25-35mph winds. Going to be like that all weekend. Holy winter overnight! I'm a NY girl so I'm glad when we get a little bit of winter in Texas. And since I'll be cooped up on the couch popping pain pills all weekend anyway, I'm like "bring it on!" :-)

So my infusion went SO much better today. Since I haven't had any reactions to the taxol, my MO agreed to cut out the Benadryl pre-med. I had NO restless legs during my treatment. The place was so full that they were putting people in the hallway in upright chairs! I was lucky and got put into one of the private rooms (although there was another lady in there with me in the chair) and I got the bed. I was pretty comfy and mostly private. :-) I ended up snoozing through most of the day. It was so nice not to have to pace with my IV pole! MO also gave me a prescription for medicine for my restless legs to take at night, so hopefully that helps. Last night I ended up walking around at midnight. So frustrating and exhausting. My blood work was good - still anemic but hovering around the same count. WBC and RBC were good, and my weight stayed the same. So that's good.

This time two weeks from now I will be a chemo graduate. Woohoo!! Hockeymommy - how'd you do today?

Viji, best of luck to you crossing the finish line. Feel better soon.

BabyRuth, hooray NED!!!! Many congrats!!!!

70charger, my RO approved of anything I wanted to use as far as lotions, so I use emu oil (from Amazon), Fruit of the Earth 100% Aloe (from Walmart) and Miaderm (a gift). I was told to use a natural deodorant if I wanted, so I use Toms of Maine and a powder that has arrowroot and cornstarch. A lot of people use plain cornstarch. Everything has gone well and today is no. 20 of 33 rads. Going everyday has gotten to be a drag but it's all good.

AnnFm - I'm leaning towards no reconstruction. I met with a Plastic Surgeon before my mastectomies and my surgeon performed my surgery so that reconstruction is an option, but now that I'm 4 months post op, I am enjoying full range of motion, being able to sleep on my side and stomach, I don't want to risk changing that. And on top of that I feel great as if I never had the mastectomies. I'd rather look as I do than risk the complications of reconstruction that come early or many years later. Here's a website that I've found helpful and informative.

http://www.breastfree.org/

BabyRuth - I'm so happy for you that your scans were clear!

Simplelife - here's to the A/C!  Three different drugs that kill the cells differently - here's to complete pathologic response!

I went out to a young survivors coalition support group dinner last night (hosted almost monthly) and wow I realized how much I needed it.  It could have been us if we were all in the same town but last night just 5 women that have breast cancer and are currently in or completed active treatment.  Just being in a place where I wasn't worried about pity faces or 'just be positive' was just so lightening.  I came home on a kind of high to be honest.  Just so nice to be out and with people who share such heart wrenching disease and brutal treatment protocol and then to sit and be strong and fearful and inspiring and honest and supportive - just really brought me back to me.  I feel like between work and school and my family and cancer appointments I am just a million peices (barely keeping it all together before cancer) and this made me feel like a solid being again.  And it was over a fabulous and shockingly good tasting healthy restaurant meal!  Best brown rice I even had...just saying... 

congrats Kbee! You are done with chemo!

Good to see baberuth again, was wondering about you..congrats on NED!

I'm in the chair this morning, my hemoglobin came up a tick to 9.7 instead of 9.5 like last time. Taxol #2 is being mixed as I type.

Have guests coming today thru Saturday after thanksgiving...they know I will not be the hostess with the mostest. At least my husband will have a reprieve with some guy time with his best friend, and his friends wife has offered to cook up a storm and freeze meals for us...if she asks about helping out I've got some serious house scrubbing and leaf raking I can sick her upon she's a total busy body.

The Ativan and Elavil are working great. Haven't slept this well since chemo began, and the too hot too cold intervals have settled down...or I'm too gorked to notice hahah

Simple life ..I am triple negative.