September 2013 Chemo Group

Lighthouse: The surgery was okay, nothing compared to what I had built it up to be in my head. I would have to say it is way easier than chemo and recovery was a pretty easy, not much pain after the first day, drains are a pain but just bothersome. I had mine out by the 5th day which was nice. Having them pulled out was easy, just a tug. You've made it through chemo, surgery will be a walk in the park. When is your surgery scheduled for?

Rayna

Hello,

I just had my 11th taxol after 4 ACs/ Just one more taxol to go then rest briefly before surgery. I've created a January 2014 surgery sisters group if you'd like to join us. Also for those of you who had surgery before chemo please do drop in and provide advice that you wish you'd had about surgery. WE would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for your support on this thread. Taste issues are pretty terrible now that taxol is nearly done; hair is definitely growing back though white! Good news is nurses say that coloring hair is no problem. Never colored hair before so nervous. Happy holidays to all celebrating. V

hvv. Hi, i started taxol last week, boy it sure wiped me out, however after 4 AC i think my body was beaten enough and that metalic taste seemed worse than when i did AC, with AC it seem to improve by week 3, did it improve at all with you when u started tacol? I have 11 more treatments then rest, then surgery , at this point they dont know what i will have, i have 2 tumors (that have shrunk) and 1 lymph node positive.

Do you know what type of surgery u will have? I will certainly follow your journey

mama stewart hooray for good weeks and great grades! Wow you are like an academic all star! And yes they always pull blood from my port the morning of chemo, always makes the day long. Funny this time even with getting labs on day before chemo I only cut one hour off the chair time...didn't even seem worth it but it was snowing maybe all the nurses were staring out the windows. I overheard a few patients calling to say they couldn't make their infusion. What? No way I would let snow or ice keep me from this chemo schedule..I want to be done and on time for Christmas.

And just because I am a bit of an oddball, I ran out of Claritin and have not taken it this round at all for neulasta. No difference, in fact I actually feel less painful side effects than I usually do. Go figure.

I also ran into one of my group fit students at chemo. She is undergoing a year of round 2 of chemo. She is in her 70s and was training for a half marathon 2 years ago and developed a hip fracture..the MRI showed stage 4 ovarian cancer. Just out of the blue, no symptoms. I remember her first round...it was just surreal to be there with her and battling my own disease now. What a crazy life I'm in right now. Funny how things change in the blink of an eye.

yes, forgot to add mamastewart, so happy for your unexpected blessings!!

Hello ladies so glad to read all the positivity in here. I am going for Taxol #3 tomorrow and also have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday. I am praying that the only thing left is the clip that was put in. I have my last Taxol on 12/23 and also meet with the plastic surgeon on 12/24. I will be joining the January surgery boards so I am looking forward to everyone's experience.

Mamastewart, you deserve every single one of those good things that have come your way...and those test scores.......what a rock star!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!

Simplelife...so glad you got out dancing. Nothing makes me happier than those moments of "normalcy."

LHl, Hope the Neulasta is not too bad this time.

Stay warm everyone...hoping everyone can stay side effect free as well.

It is snowing like crazy here, and I am about to go outside for 3 hours to help our FD "fill the fire engine" with toys for Toys for Tots. Brrrr. I am not sure if I want my wig to get windblown and snowy, so I may just wear a couple hats, throw my fire gear on for warmth, and call it good. I wonder at what temperature the saline in these implants freezes?!?!?! Since they are hard as a rock, I probably wouldn't notice anyway! Brrrrrrrr. I am a cold weather WIMP!

Alfranco - congrats on the last Taxotere tomorrow!!!  Hopefully the taste buds will start to bounce back after that. 

Mamstewart - so glad on the good week - you definitely deserve it! And wow on the tests!!!!  I have my two finals Monday and Tuesday and studying like crazy through the persistent chemo fog.  But hoping I do well - but ditto - you are for sure a academic rockstar!!!

Thank you everyone! I am glad that I am doing good in this class because this is my (new) career path. I am hoping my instructor will write me a reference when I go to apply to the Med Lab Tech program too. She always tells me she has no idea how I am doing so well. I just really like this stuff. Maybe I will cure cancer someday

Simplelife: I was bummed because I did feel my tumor shrink and can't even feel it anymore but my surgeon still found it on ultrasound measuring at .78cm. She also said that I now have two (instead of one) funky looking lymph nodes so it must have spread in the two weeks from my last ultrasound before I started chemo. My onc said not to be worried about it though because it very well could just be all scar tissue or even just a sack of dead cancer cells. Just because there are cells there doesn't mean that they are living! If it hasn't gotten bigger in the last three months then the chemo is working! I am a grade two and from what I could feel, I think my tumor got about a 1/4 cm bigger just in the month and a half from the time I found it until I started chemo.

SpecialK: thank you for the info. I will ask my onc for a script when I see him next. I really don't want to go through 11 more painful pokes like that! ...And how do you pronounce that so I don't sound like an idiot when I ask him? LOL

Rayna: Thanks for the surgery update! I am glad you are doing well and I hope all of us looking forward to that do just as well. How long after chemo did you lose your nails? I have a dark red band just above the white half moon on a couple of my nails. They aren't sore though. Did they hurt the whole time?! I guess I am not too worried about losing them I just don't want them to be painful the whole time they are growing out.

Anyone know any statistics on having your ovaries removed? I am going to talk to my onc about it, but I don't even know if insurance will cover it, or the severity of side effects of having it done could be like osteoporosis. I am only 33, but I also don't want to deal with this crap again. I have already resigned to not having any more babies because of Tamoxifen... I am looking forward to foster parenting

Right Rayna, my thinking too: less options for future cancer. And I read that Tamoxifen can increase the chances of uterine cancer as well I just don't know what the issues with osteoporosie are or what they do about it. I read somewhere that you have to have a regular bone scan to check bone density and then I read somewhere else that having a yearly bone scan increases your chance of cancer tremendously! If it isn't one thing, it's another. Yup, I think I am just going to have to cure cancer. This is ridiculous. And thank you! I had a really great instructor this semester. She gave us lots of tools to help us get through. If not for her power points that go over the chapters completely, I would never have passed on those weeks that I physically could not read the book. I am going to give her a thank you card at the end of the semester for sure, at least.

I'm wanting my ovaries out too or maybe uterus and ovaries.. I have read so many just on these threads that continue to have periods with chemo or with tamoxifen...seems they are still producing too much estrogen even with these...why not take it out?? 

I am going to see gynecologist when done with chemo or on 3rd week when feeling up to it to see what she recommends.

I also wonder, if breasts are gone, uterus and ovaries gone...does cancer have anywhere else to reoccur?  Does it go to liver, pancreas or does it just not reoccur as less hormones??? 

I do NOT want it anywhere again!

I agree Audra. I don't want to do this ever again.

A friend of mine had a met show up on a rib. I've also heard someone local have lung mets. I'm afraid you can't cut out everywhere it could go. So, yes mamastewart, let's cure it!

I vote for mamastewart curing cancer, too!!!

I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease last summer (2012) and my only real symptom was extreme fatigue. I wonder if the cancer lurking had something to do with that.

So...I walked out of the cancer center without my Neulasta injection today.

I'm so frustrated. I know they are backed up because of closing Friday due to weather.... I get that. I called this morning to ask when I should come and she said, "They are working on those appointments, they will call you." Ha. I KNEW they wouldn't call me because I don't actually have an "appointment" for Neulasta.... I just go back 24 hours after my chemo is finished.



I was out running some errands and decided to stop on the way home to see if I could get my shot so I wouldn't have to go back out. BIG MISTAKE. I checked in at the front desk & told the lady there the same thing I did when I called. I needed to get my shot that I couldn't get Friday and I didn't know if they could get me in then or not. She told me she'd check me in. 45 minutes later - still no shot. I'm sitting there next to a crabby lady who kept saying, "I hate this weather. This weather gives me the creeps!" and on my other side was a guy snuffling and gulping when he swallowed and he had the worst body odor....I had had enough.



The lady at the desk looked at me like an idiot when I asked if I should come back. I'm sorry, I am hurting from Taxol, I am exhausted, I hadn't had lunch yet, it's freezing outside and I'm about forty years younger than every other person in that waiting room. Sitting in there for almost an hour for a shot that takes 30 seconds was not helping!



Maybe I broke "protocol" or something by leaving, but since I didn't technically have an appointment, what's the big deal? I'm tempted to not even go back. It's my last chemo... why do I need Neulasta anyway? (I know, I know... go get the shot).



I am so frustrated and emotional and tired today. Most days I'm very positive and happy and am ready for anything. This stupid shot thing was the last straw today, though.



Ok, pity party over.

Michelle maybe just skip the shot..and lay low. If I wasn't having my port removed on Jan 8th I would skip my last neulasta..even the nurse practitioner agreed it would be okay it's just that white counts won't spring back so quickly..is your surgery date far enough out? I will do mine only because don't want to risk infection with port removal and I'm traveling the next day to Texas for a long weekend.

I'm over the worst of it this round...last night was bad. Neulasta all over body inflammation, stomach on fire because of steroids again..jaw and shoulder and sternum pain. Yuck. So glad I only have one more ..ready to move on. Even if rads suck..it will not be chemo!