Cytoxan Taxotere Chemo Ladies- February/March 2013

Chemo#2 is done! I'm halfway done! My hubby shaved for me. We do themes for chemo day, since the only thing I can control is my attitude and what I wear. The first chemo I went as a hula girl and hubby as a Hawaiian tourist. Some of the side effects started early with this one. They made the T take 2 hours instead of 1 since I had a bad reaction afterwords. I hope this works. My total time in Big Girl Chair was 4 hours and 43 minutes. Good Luck to those doing chemo this week.

Bondsy- Yipee for final chemo!

Bondsy- HOORAY for you!  That must be so awesome!  You are done with the poison!! yayyy!!!! Wishing you well with the rest and hoping it is much easier..

Kbee- Great ideas, I never drink sugary drinks and have trouble with Gatorade even...I am a weirdo...but maybe I need some electrolytes and that's why I have headache, duh...I will try it.

Quirky- I got my period HEAVILY after my first chemo also and clotting...which was sortof the norm...but due next week for one and hoping it will not show up since I've had 2 chemo treatments now...hoping

School counselor-

I am hoping you are feeling better, having more energy !  I HATE feeling like that! 

Every day seems to be a new feeling with this stuff...can't plan ahead for sure..

I love looking at posts when I get home and have been out or am at home all day and not having energy = it is so nice to have such a great group of women supporting and helping each other!  I LOVE it!!  Probably the BEST thing about this awful cancer !

We are like war veterans that served together...always have each others backs...I love it!

thanks to all of you!

FDM, I love, love, love the picture...and the theme idea!!!! What a fun way to put a nice spin on chemo days.

Audra, When i was pregnant, I vomited all the time. I could not drink gatorade...or anything else...but for some reason, I could drink slushies...and survived on them...for months! Poor DH...I would send him out at all hours to get me things to freeze and "drink". I hope it works for you.

I hope everyone feels a little (or a lot) better each day.

Thank you gals and guys for the laugh and comments. I figure someone need a laugh. My husband had a full red beard for many years. I was laughing and hold back tears when he did this for me. I did not ask him too. We went to a dog groomer since I work with dogs. He said, "Maybe chemo in the winter with bald head isn't a such a good thing." Made me laugh. It is the first time I have ever seen him without facial hair. I might get him some clip on earrings.

I'm fighting with the SE more on this one, keep telling myself "you will not pray to the porcelain goddess." I smelled the chemo the whole time and my mouth swollen and thorart. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see how I get before I call the number.

What I did with Gatorade and Smart water was dilute it, to help with the stuff.

Stay Strong Warriors!

Thank you to all for the good wishes. I'm feeling much better today, and just feeling grateful. I wish you all the best.

Bluegrassharp-  I'm so sorry you are having body aches...I seem to get them few days after chemo, but I've only had 2 so far...so can't tell your future tx...I hope they are NOT accumulative..

Thanks all for drinking tips..I am going to try them all today and see which is my fave...so sick of just water bottles..ewwwhhh...I am drinking coffee right now and it tastes gross but still doing it just to have some semblance of normalcy...

I had a HORRIBLE night, woke up with excruciating back and hip pain, is it the neulasta shot?  I got it on Monday.  Taking the Claritin since Friday, had rapid heartbeat last night after taking the Claritin, got scared at that..took an Ativan to counteract it and calm me down and it worked...feel like a druggy...took 4 advil in night for the back pain...and went back to sleep to wake up at 5am with it coming back...does this last or go after one night?  I don't like that it stays in our system for 15 days...maybe if I need wbc up I will ask for the nuepogen? that is a daily shot...not liking this AT ALL...

Hope you feel better today School Counselor

Hope we all do!

Headeast-

I do NOT have Percocet, I have hydrocodone from mastectomy...I'm going to call the Dr and make sure I can take that with everything else...

I think my foods I have been eating are horrid, maybe in some way I'm rebelling.  I always eat very healthy and now I'm eating drive through crap and feeling like I 'can'...and it is going right through me...

What is the soy free protein shake with blood builder?  Everyone is mentioning blood builder and I think I read its beets?

I'm going to get that and NOT get this shot again...

thanks

Bluegrassharp, Melrose did 6 rounds. i was scheduled for 6 because MO chose that before he knew i was node negative. once we knew i was node negative and low oncotype, we reevaluated, and he said 4... otherwise I would be going for #5 tomorrow and could have given you more guidance. I can tell you the early days each round got harder each time, and it took a little longer to recover each time, but late week 2 and all week 3 has been the same all 4 rounds.

Audra, that sounds like neulasta pain, though Taxotere gave me severe labor like pains even in the rounds I did not have Neulasta...actually, it was worse than labor. blood builder works for red blood cells, but not white blood cells.

Bondsy, Glad you are feeling a bit better.

SC, I hope you feel better soon.

Audra, I did the Neupogen (generic Neulasta) shots at home. They are spread out over 5 days, starting on day 3, and I think because the dose is smaller it's not as big a shock to the system. It's also a good option for those who are fighting the snow and having trouble getting in. Sometimes my husband gave me the shots and sometimes I did it. But there still were some body pains associated with it.

Today was my last shot, and I broke down crying in an emotional mess just at the thought of being done. Mostly happy tears, but also sad tears - I think I was crying for all the people who have to go through this awful disease. It surprised me that I got so emotional.

Melrose, thanks for the detailed post about your experience with TCx6. I'm in a clinical trial, too, and know I'm getting 6 treatments, not 4. I just freaked out yesterday because my muscle ache SEs were so much more intense this time (chemo3) than in the first two rounds. But my acute pain seems to have eased off this evening -- I noticed I was feeling better about the same time I read your post! I think you have a magic touch!

From your description, I get the impression that your SEs did not snowball downhill over the last treatments as I feared. Is this correct? If so, that's hopeful!

I can honestly say that reading everyone's posts on this site has been an inspiration to me to keep doing all the right things -- hydration, good eating habits, hygiene, sensible drug and non-drug solutions to reduce SEs, exercise, reaching out for support from family and friends, etc! As crappy as I felt today, my DH was able to get me outside to walk because I knew It was the right thing to do -- and it helped that the weather was lovely here and the dogs were eager to go, too!

minustwo

Question. How did you find your reoccurrence?  I am wondering after mastectomy they don't do mammograms....do you get mris every few months or did you feel a lump or what???

So sorry you are having to do this AGAIN!!  that sucks!

Minus two-

WOW, so how did that happen or what did they say?  It was in your lymph node by collarbone? This is all AFTER chemotherapy right?

Why didn't chemotherapy kill it?  Did you not get mri or ct scans after chemotherapy?

That is  scary!

MinusTwo, I was reading your explanation to Audra. Do you think if they would have done chemo when you had DCIS would have prevented you from having a tumor this time? What did the doctors say?

I guess this time they do want to kill whatever is in there!

I just came back from a charity luncheon I am part of and it is for cancer research. Every lady there has had somebody, even themselves with some type of cancer. You can hear the most wonderful stories about cases like mine or like yours or other types of cancer. They all survived, even decades ago when it was very different!

A friend told me her mother passed during chemo 20 years ago. At that time she had diarrhea for three weeks, and doctors didn't give her fluids in IV, Motrin or any other anti diarrhea medicine. Years ago it was like that. She died in her third treatment because at that time the side effects were not controlled like they are now. Today, 20 years after, we don't hear these cases anymore. Everybody gets the side effects controlled with all kind of pre meds and all. She told me there were no steroid pills given to her mom, just the chemo and to wait. She actually didn't die from cancer, but from dehydration!

This is another era for medicine, and I am happy for all of us who are here that share how we do and how we kill that cancer and survive it! We will get there!

Team Kim: There was no indication that I needed any further treatment the first time around. I don't blame any of my docs for the recommended treatment. The clear margins on both excised breasts were well defined. Two serial nodes on each side were negative for any invasive disease. As you all may have been reading, many docs are no longer even consider DCIS to be cancer. I just got caught by another one of the twists that this tricky bugger can take.