Starting Chemo, November 2013 Group

amazon, i was just thinking how sick i am of the tightness (sometimes pain) at my scar areas and my surgery was august.  It feels like i amwearing a lead bra.  Imtry to be patient because i have heard it can take months but it is a constant reminder.

Jab- YOU are AMAZING! SO glad you feel THAT good!

Ellen- you make me laugh, love the toothpaste switch!

Amazon- hoping you feel better today...and I have mastectomy scars that do not hurt, itch or anything...don't even know they are there ..

This year DEFINITELY WILL BE BETTER! 

@ Post mastectomy symptoms: Lately I find myself waking around the house holding my chest wall like I just took an oath of allegance because of the tightness. It seems to happen more in the evenings when I feel tired.  

JAB that was awesome.  I'm really glad your feeling good.  I gives me hope.  We're expecting 10 inches of snow over the next 36 hours.  I'm praying I feel well enough to try some snow shoeing with my husband over the weekend.  Off to my first round of Taxal and Herceptin.

Happy New Year to all!!!!!

Hi All!

Jab...happy you had a great day! Hope the same for today! stilll love your puppy!

Big T....best to you for your first round of T& H!!! Huggs!

bluegrass....Hoping for a WONDERFUL DAY!!!

Amazon....sorry about the pulling and pbms...I know ALL scaring and healing does that....Love the PIC! send some to FL!

Note about scarring....massage the scar as firmly as you can and stretch it! If you Dr oks it get the scar reducing silicon strips. I does reduce them greatly! My rubbing the scars it breaks up the tissue and allows it to grow and stretch out more!

Audra....Hugg and LOVE! Hoping for a FANTASTIC DAY!!!!!!!

Ellen!!!!!!!! YAHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone has itching from tegederm  or bandaids covering.....try IV300 for a port covering....ALSO...whatever bandage....put SKIN PREP on and allow to DRY totally!...Then apply dressings. I am HIGHLY allergic and found this really help!

Wally....cant remember..did I tell you we also have a Doxel...but we say Dogle! A doxin dressed up in a doxin suit! lol.....The BEST mix of doggie!! HAPPY , fun and smart!!!!!! and what a great cancer sniffer!

Lissy....not sure about SSD....but it doesnt hurt to find out. I am on SSD for the autoimmune and other pbms. I do know they have temp and perm...and the children get a portion as well for assistance! Check it out. Dont stop at the first NO....they retro pay when approved! Loved the santa heads! My hubby shaved his...as well as one grandson! It was totally supportive! 

Now I am balder than ever...an ALIEN and they have hair growing! Too funny! My head is shinier every day!!!

Bec....I agree....being home can be such a bore...especially when you want to do something...but for those days you can even bring yourself to consciousness......THANK GOD!

Yesterday was one of those days....I could not stay awak more than 10 min at a pop.

Virginia....I would love to see you hari documentation!

SMLVR.....huggs and love for the new year

lisa....glad your headache was better! Hope it stays away. I have had only the nagging one now...slowing down the infusion and IV fluids helped ALOT!

He Quirky! Hoping for a great day today!!

Melrose!!! Huggs for a wonderful day!

Phebe! Prayers and smiles!

I got a question....I see many of yall are doing radiation after chemo....or other mix of treatments...anyone know why one way or another?

I had a SINGLE dose radiation during my lumpectomy 3cm ll/lll IDC ++-....I knew I couldnt do more than one dose cause of the other comorbities but dont know enough to know the difference between all the diff approaches. I know we all have diff DNA and NO TWO cancers are alike because of it. But wow....so many drugs...so many ways!

Hoping for a FANTASTIC DAY to everyone! No sleep last night....ZOMBIES out yeasterday! I think Im heading that way right now! 

Happy New year! Thankyou for just being there! 

Love!

T're!

the small beauties of life!!!!

avawapui....great for hair.....wonder about bald heads!!!!

I hope everyone has checked into free housecleaning help through....CLEANING FOR A CAUSE !!! THEY COME monthly for 4 months at no charge!!!! what a help!!! bless them!

I would love to work! Kudos for all you ladies who are! I had to stop working because of lupus I'm number of years ago. Bummer! Hats off to each of you who are working and raising children right now going thru do this! You are my heroes

Amazon, Wrenn, jab, nearly all surgical scars will itch and feel as though they are pulling. That's basically the body's way of trying to adjust to the new skin, and new shape. Massage some good cream or lotion on it a few times a day. It will stop when it heals, and even when it looks healed, it may still be healing, especially internally. The lack of feeling around the site may not ever improve. I have zero feeling around and on my largest surgical scar.

Amazon, that picture looks like a tree full of diamonds. Very pretty.

Wrenn, the toothpaste/cream issue is why I never keep anything similar near each other. My hubby would surely use the wrong one. Even he admits that he's one of the least observant people he knows. A building just two blocks from the house, that he passed twice a day, had been torn down for three weeks before he realized it. And then only after I had pointed it out to him.

A totally random question. Does anyone else wonder why only some hair falls out? My eyelashes, brows, and legs (though the leg hair is growing very, very slowly) are still fine. There are a few quarter size patches of hair on my head that still try to grow.  And my nose hair is gone. Why the nose and not the legs? Sorry, I just wonder about random things all the time. Hubby will even ask me it's if it's a real question when I ask them. Mostly they aren't though.

Hi Lisacm,

I have been working so far through Chemo.  Have my last AC tomorrow then on to weekly Taxol.  So far I have been able to schedule my chemo for two days before my weekend off so that when the fatigue hit I was able to stay in bed/ on couch on my days off.  I did miss a day last chemo due to low WBC and EBC, lucky I had scheduled vacation time off for Christmas and was already home.  Kinda worried how the last AC is going to hit me tomorrow.  I might have to take a extra day or two off if my counts are low again.  

Am hoping Taxol will be easier and more do able for me then the AC.

It isn't fun but you can work through most of chemo.  I think it actually helps me to have to get up and going each work day....

The hair question is a good one.  The hair follicles on the body have different growth cycles.  The head hair is on a different one than the brows and lashes.  My onco told me that I probably not lose my hair leg from the chemo but I did.  Yes, chemo left me with minimal head hair, no nose hair, no hair in my ears (there is hair there too), no leg hair, no arm hair, no arm pit hair, no hair down south.  By end of my 6 rounds of Cytoxan/Taxotere, I had minimal hair ( Ok... I was practially bald with some duck fuzz that was trying to grow), no eyebrows and no bottom eyelashes.  My top eyelashes never left for some odd reason.  The good news is that all of the hair that went on vacation because of the chemo, did return.  I haven't experienced the secondary fallouts of my eyebrows and eyelashes as some have.  I do know some gals have lost their brows and lashes several times the first year after completing chemo. 

Hello, everyone!  We are receiving a big snow dumping here in upstate New York and I think elsewhere, too.

The girls are coming back from their ski weekend today,so the quiet is gone.  Drama is coming with them because DD #2 reported boyfriend problems on New Year's Eve.  There will be laundry. I am glad to be feeling a little better today to deal with it all.

Paulette, I asked the same question of my RO about the treatment schedule.  Why chemo before rads?  I think the thinking there is that they want to get any rogue cancer cells first.  Also, I chose to have a BMX because my lobular cancer was not picked up on a mammogram.  From its size, I am sure I had it for a few years. My mammos were always normal.  The whole thing scared me enough to not want to have a useless mammogram again.  My BS never tried to talk me out of it, although it wish he did counsel me on the options.

Jab, good for you going out to run in those temps!  Way to go!

Wally, my scar has been hurting for a few days after every chemo treatment.  Yesterday was really bad. Pulling and soreness.  I'm interested to see if it happens when I start the taxol.  I really do want that skin to stretch a bit because I did not have tissue expanders put in during BMX so my reconstruction will be a separate surgery.  It feels better today, but yesterday was bad.

Paulette, thanks for the pics of flowers.  Everything here is white and gray,  they are so pretty!

ellenkc-  I kept thinking that I had white duck fuzz on my head because I thought I felt it.  I'd look in the mirro and couldn't see anything.  I finally resorted to trying to see if I could get an impression of the hair with some Silly Putty.  LOL.... Still coulnd't get an impression with that stuff......  All I know is that now I have hair and it continues to grow and is now about 5-6 inches long.  On average, the head hair grows at a rate of 1/2 inch a month.  I think mine may have come returned at a slower rate because of the Herceptin and Tamox since they are known to slow hair growth.