Starting Chemo, November 2013 Group

ayaan1---Before anyone on this thread will respond to your questions..... we would like to know about you and why you are writing this essay and who it is for and what questions you are asking. 

Audra, my MO does not specialize in breasts either.  I don't think many of them do. But I will say he does listen and he doesn't treat me like I am crazy.  You and i are very similar in our anxiety.  If you have one infusion left I wouldn't delay it by changing doctors, but maybe for going forward you might want one that takes your fears more seriously.  My doctor told me that after treatment they don't really do any scans, they just go by symptoms.  So I need one who will take any reported symptoms seriously.  

Jab, I live 30 minutes south of the Adirondack mountains and we love to hike.  Haven't gone in a while due to being busy, but after this, I intend to go more.  It is great exercise and so peaceful.  I need peaceful.  I never heard of the west highland trail in Scotland! although I would live to go to Scotland.  That is where my family is from.

This round the ringing in my ears is more constant.  Do any of you have ringing in the ears or know why it occurs?  

Having the proper mindset seems to be a half the battle!!

Pat, smrlvr, others

The West Highland Way is really a hike/walk through the Scottish highlands. It is beyond beautiful. My husband and I hiked many of the hills in the area last year including Ben Nevis (my husband is Scottish so I've been there a few times) . In total it is 125km, over 5-7 days, stopping at B and B's each night but you can do whatever amount you would like, and then golf or sight see (lots of single malt distillaries in the area too). If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to send you more info. My goal is to go late 2014 or 2015. (I turn 50 in 2014 also, so a double reason to make it happen. Maybe this could be a option for the Nov girls get together.

Pat: Here is the next hint...

Pat: You almost guessed it this time! Think of Andy Warhol's or Petter Lorre's or the Stastny's  brothers homeland. 

Your picture made me jealous! A nice sunny day and a beach!

We are FREEEEEZING here, Mr.Bigglesworth!

Audra, first let me say that I ALSO got the "some spot on your liver, probably a hemangioma" thing, and no doctor has seemed to be too concerned about it since then. I was worried about it at first, but decided that since my surgeon, and two different oncologists have shrugged at it, I'll shrug at it, too. Apparently it really isn't uncommon, and if it was cancer and not a hemangioma, it would look differently somehow. I seriously wouldn't worry about it at this point. I know, easy for me to say.....

As for switching MOs... I can't tell you what to do, but if I weren't happy with MINE, and especially for the reasons you cite, I would not HESITATE to switch. I *especially* would not stay with an onc that wasn't interested in how I was handling all this mentally/emotionally, because it's important to me that my doctors -- all of them -- treat the ENTIRE patient. My oncologist looks me straight in the eye at every visit and asks, "How are you feeling?" and then he waits for an actual answer, and is responsive and interested whether I'm complaining about mouth sores or feeling sad. He's the one who told me that since I was having anxiety issues and was already on klonipin for anxiety, that he saw no problem with me staying on the klonipin and also using the ativan that he himself prescribed for nausea and "breakthrough anxiety if you find it necessary." And told me to talk to either him or my PCP if there were any other such issues. His entire attitude is that cancer and cancer treatment suck, but there's no reason we ought to be *miserable* if it can be avoided. 

THAT's the sort of oncologist YOU need, in my personal opinion. They exist. Find you one!

Funny thing about my oncologist: He's taken care of several members of my family already--for blood disorders moreso than cancer--so I was already familiar with him. So when I was initially talking with people from his cancer center, giving them info, setting up appointments, etc., I commented to the lady I was speaking with "My mother thinks Dr. Y. walks on water," and she responded immediately, "Yeah. That's because he does."  

Oh and that's another thing. He's part of a larger cancer center, and I was little intimidated by what-all I might have to go through to get set up with them....but they made it EASY, and EVERYONE I talked to there was awesome from the beginning; caring, patient, going the extra mile (like getting in touch with my surgeon to get some of my records themselves instead of asking me to do it and bring them,) etc. They made us--myself and my husband---feel WELCOMED to their care, and it's been like that through each and every visit, and each and every phone contact with them from the start. LOOK FOR THAT when you are calling around!  

Everyone, from the receptionists, to the chemo nurses, to even the financial girl (who informed US that she was gonna go ahead and file the applications for us to get some help with my deductible--we're kind of poor---when we didn't even know that such help was a possibility) has been kind, helpful, and genuinely caring. They've made it VERY CLEAR to us that if we have a concern or question, at any time of the night or day, there is SOMEONE there who can talk to us and take care of our problems, and they have a "no such thing as a stupid question, or being overly concerned" attitude. They *comfort* us. I'll stop...but I could go on and on and on about how great these people have been.

But I will say this: My *anxiety level*---and my husband's anxiety level for that matter--- dropped by a LOT when we started going to that cancer center instead of the one we were originally going to. Once you feel like someone is really "on your case" and (more importantly) gives a damn about your case, you WILL be able to relax, at least a little bit.

Started AC on 11/12 and completed the last of 4 cycles on 12/26. It took a total of 3 days to lose 99% of my hair 10 days after first cycle, I have dark nail beds, felt sick and dizzy, and a few other "I can do without" episodes. Overall, did relatively well, considering. I was suppose to start Taxol and Herceptin tomorrow, but my poor heart did not like the direct attack of the Dox. Completed an ECHO and blood work to see if my heart will be healthy enough to move forward. If not, next step of treatment will be delayed to allow my heart to recover. Onc to give me the news tomorrow morning. I cannot stress enough how I just want this to be over and done. The idea of stretching this out over a longer period of time is making me crazy. Thank goodness for my Ativan! It is a low dosage, but helps me sleep at night, calms me for my port hook ups, and overall made things a bit easier.

Hey, Lisa, you're the grand prize winner with our 2000th post!  A great way to start your feel-great day!

in the big girl chair today. It was so cold in there. Treatment went good, blood counts still acceptable. Peeing red before I left the office. Everyone knows the drill. Drink, pee, drink, pee, repeat. Only one more AC to go, then the four taxotere. I asked about the GI problems and she doesn't think it will be an issue. But with four taxoteres instead of three I'm looking at mid May before surgery. If I go outside and scream real loud would any of you hear it? Starting to feel yucky so I'm going to bed now

Ladies -

Maybe this has been asked before but what advise are you getting on flu shots? H1N1 is htting Canada and there are deaths occurring of non-comprimised people so we would definately be in the high risk group. My Onc recommended a flue shot today, FYI.

Wallymama, scream away.

Ellen: congratulations, and pave out way!

Amazon: ok: Slovakia! How the heck did you wind up emigrating to Canada?

Uh, found this posted in the October group. It's a wow.

http://blog.armyofwomen.org/2012/07/research-webin...

It's not exactly encouraging about the cognitive effects, but it sure should be required listening for all oncologists. How dare some of them deny the existence of chemobrain? They should be shot, or at least prevented from treating women with breast cancer. The presentation isn't short, but we all need to hear it. We aren't crazy, just experiencing one more sucky part of this whole sucky thing.

hi everyone, I had my H1N1 flu shot in October last year. 

Starting new treatment on January 14th on taxotere and herceptin. How do others feel when they get the injection?

Also I want to comment on my port. For me, my port doesn't bother me.Its located just above my right elbow, closer to my body. It new to me that people have it on their chest. Every time I take blood work or chemo - two hours before that I put Emla cream where the port is located. It numbs your skin where they give you the needle. It sure helps me. I don't feel the needle when they insert the needle. You have to buy the cream yourself. If you have Walmart that's where it's cheaper.