Starting Chemo in March 2014

It is really amazing to hear different stories of surgery and how decisions are made. My surgery choices seemed right to me from the very begining. It wasn't until after surgery I thought "why did I do this" or "I should have done that".  I did a bilateral for symmetry and peace of mind. After surgery the pain made me question it until the patho report came back suggesting BC soon on the unaffected side. The ALD was followed by " was this neccessary" thoughts. But again as the number of affected lymph went up, removing it, doing scans for mets, and peace of mind were what I needed.  It is hard to read some posts that label people who choose to do or not do a treatment harshly.  I think we all have our doubts and make the best choice we can with the information, doctors, and insurance we have.  

Day 2 since my first treatment and I have to say I am amazed at how well I feel.  yes I still have the fatigue but my biggest fear - the nausea has been under control.  I did make it to my acupuncture appointment yesterday so not sure if that is helping too but I am taking the Zofran every 12 hours to keep the nausea at bay and it is working yeah!!!  A friend bought me the Cancer Fighting Kitchen book that someone on this thread recommended and I have only skimmed through it so far but it looks great for what we are going through.  I would definitely recommend it.  One thing i want to mention to all of you as you are making your surgery decisions is if you decide to use something like Aloderm to hold the implant in place you will wind up with a very nasty looking scar underneath your breast in addition to the mastectomy scar on the side.  I wasnt informed of this when I had my mastectomy back in 2007.  Had I known I would have probably opted for a smaller implant without the aloderm.     

I guess all PS are not the same.  I have one scar per breast across the middle and did skin sparing and alloderm was inserted through the same incision.  Good question to ask your PS if you want alloderm.

So thought I would share photos too, since Alli did. Here is before, after cut, and my every day wig. Not sure why the last pic is sideways. I would love to see others transformations too! I've cut my hair this short a couple of times in the past, and while easy I never thought it was the best look for me. Oh well. My stylist did it for free, which was so sweet. 

Lovemyboys, is the first one your wig? They all look great!

Lovemyboysandlabs that wig looks great! So natural and the color alomost identical to your own. I tried one on just like it yesterday and really felt good in it. I currently have short hair and am not sure yet if I want to go long. 

I am also having my port put in and am having chemo 2 days later. Let me know how it goes. Good luck on Monday and have a side effect free week!!!!!

my husband said i should get a blonde wig.... I guess he figures why not go different. We'll see. I wanted one like my own hair for every day use. 

I will let you know how much it hurts Monday--it hurts like a you know what when I push on it, so I am prepared that it won't be pleasant.

Had a glass of red wine with lunch -- probably shouldn't but it was much needed!

That's right! I think if anyone deserves a nice glass of wine it's us!

I'm coming over Macintx! haha

Hi, pretty girls!

Cancervixen, I'm so happy that your first session wasn't too awful, and that those anti-nausea meds appear to be keeping your stomach happy. And you're already one treatment down, which makes me officially jealous of your progress :-)

Agness, definitely reach out to as many people as you're comfortable with. I'm sure you're incredibly capable, but now is not the time to be a hero, because there's no sense in making life more difficult for you or your children while you're undergoing treatment. Your kids need you healthy over the long haul, right? If you need to sacrifice the short-haul in order to get there, do it without a second's hesitation. Also, I'm betting you'll be amazed by how many people want to pitch in and help. Let them. When you're well again, you can, I don't know, build them each a barn or make them exotic dinners or something (look up some Mario Batali recipes for this, because everything he makes seems to feature some kind of rare truffle that can only be found on the south-facing slope of a mountain in Umbria on the third Saturday in August every leap year). 

Alli!  Boo that your echo was a no-go. Will they schedule the MUGA before chemo?  I hope your swelling resolves quickly!

Lovemyboys, love your wig!! And if your pre-chemo hair is anything to judge by, I predict that your post-chemo hair is going to roar right back at hyper-speed. You have about three times as much hair on your head as I do; I need to whisper to my hair every morning and let it know that I love it and appreciate the fact that it's willing to stay on my head and let me treat it to all kinds of extortionate-price salon visits. I'm pretty sure it's going to pout for months and months when I finish my own chemo. It'll be the teenage girl version of hair, and will slam my scalp shut and play emo music and refuse to come out when I call it.

AKJ, I hope you're resting up and shaking off the chemo flu. Have you picked up some Biotene yet? If you haven't, I know my sister has used a baking soda/salt mouthwash to soothe mouth sores in the past. She also has that magic mouthwash from her oncologist, but I think she generally only breaks that out when the sores are truly uncomfortable. I hate that she has to be such a pro at this.

Speaking of my sister, I did indeed make her a baseball cap with removable extensions, but I was in such a hurry that I neglected to take a picture of it so that I could parade my genius around. I was especially proud of the fact that, unlike most of the other baseball cap/hair options you can buy online, the one I made attached to the hat with fabric velcro strips, so all she has to do is plop some velcro strips into the side of any hat she likes, and she can switch out the hair as she pleases. As I mentioned before, she can't stand having anything directly on her scalp when she's exercising, so I hope this gives her a few options. I think those hair halos are pretty difficult to keep in place while you're exercising unless you use some kind of adhesive - at least with the velcro, the hair will hang out as long as your hat stays on. I'm going to be making one for myself, and will definitely take a few pictures this time.

Have any of you heard of Philip Kingsley? He's a trichologist with his own line of hair care products and two clinics (New York and London). When his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, he developed a special "No Scent No Color" shampoo and conditioner for people undergoing chemo. Most of his products get rave reviews, so I figured I'd pick these up at some point to baby my hair when it does decide to grow back. He's also got a scalp treatment that seems to be useful. If you google the name, you'll bump into his website and can cruise around there for yourselves if you're so inclined. Also, for those of you who are still shopping for wigs, you might want to check out the "Make Me Heal" website. The site is largely devoted to people who are undergoing cosmetic surgery procedures, but they do have a lot of wigs in their online store, and they're generally a lot cheaper than the same wigs at retail online wig stores.

I'm busy filling out the zillion forms I got from Sloan in preparation for my meeting with an MO there on Thursday. Seriously, Sloan wants their hands on everything - they wanted all of the slides from my tumor, the surgeon's notes, the reports from every test I underwent, and all the films from all the imaging. I have to list every single medication and supplement I'm taking, and then I have to actually BRING all of those medications and supplements with me to my meeting with them. It's like a grad-level cancer course. I have homework.

Finally, my wig is here, but I haven't taken it to my stylist yet. The wig is really pretty, I think: it's a Louis Ferre human hair wig (the NRC002 in Sun-Kissed Blonde). I got a great deal on it, and now just need to play around a bit and figure out how to make it part of me for the next little while. I just want to get my port in and get this show on the road, already. Waiting is not my strong suit.

Sorry this was so chatty; I need to duck in here more often so I don't bludgeon you all with epic posts. I hope you're all having nice weekends!

Also the port access is not bad, once you get used to it. If you have had your tissue expanders filled it will be similar. Some places will use a spray to numb the pport site then access with a needle, others do not. But the push the needle in, not 

Nina, I am from Hudson, which if you aren't familiar, is about 2 hours from the city, near the Catskills, about 45 minutes from Albany. I miss it a lot at times, especially in the fall. I haven't been back in 7 years, and planned to go up there for a family wedding this summer, but that probably won't happen now.  Talk about culture shock, try living in Texas...  I understand why your hubby wanted to move. Can't imagine being in the city when that happened.

Alli, sorry you are having trouble. Did that glass of wine help???  I heard that things taste funny once you start, I guess I will find out tomorrow. I gotta say I thought I would be more nervous about it, but really I want to get going and kill this freaking cancer!

Alli, I had the axillary swelling too, and it did finally go down after about 4 weeks.  Before that, I hated that I couldn't even relax my arm down straight because it still felt like I was smuggling a big bag of sand high up in my armpit.  I think the fluid finally absorbed, and now at a little over 5 weeks, I just have a little bit of a tight feeling up in there but not the swelling, and the sensitivity on the back of my arm is a lot less.  My armpit is still kind of numb, but that may take a while to go away.  It is hard to be patient, but know that it will get better!